Manchester may not yet be, as a local newspaper columnist recently declared, "the football capital of the world." But for 90 minutes at Old Trafford on Sunday, it will certainly feel like it. A global audience of several hundred million will turn their gaze to the "Theatre of Dreams" as Manchester City attempt to underscore their emergence as the rising power of English football against Manchester United.
A potentially titanic showdown between the two richest clubs in English football will see City open up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League if they score their first away victory over United since 2008. It is the first time since 1968 that City and United have met while occupying first and second place in the table.
That statistic lends weight to the view that the power struggle between the red and blue halves of Manchester is poised to become the defining rivalry of the Premier League in the coming years, if it has not already done so. City served notice of their wherewithal to supplant United with victory over Sir Alex Ferguson's side en route to capturing last season's FA Cup.
United duly responded by clinching their record 19th league title before claiming a 3-2 victory over City in this year's Community Shield curtain-raiser. Since then the two clubs have been neck-and-neck at the top of the Premier League, before City edged two points clear last weekend with a 4-1 win over Aston Villa while United were held 1-1 at Liverpool.
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