Saturday evening sees another edition of the fierce rivalry that is the Manchester derby.
Unusually, certainly for the last few seasons, both teams go into the game relatively equal in terms of their results and position in the Premier League table.
United sit in sixth on 19 points, City are right behind them in seventh and on 18 points.
However, that’s where the similarity ends. United’s ‘noisy neighbours’ are far superior in all other aspects, whether supporters of the Red Devils choose to admit it or not.
As United have gone downhill, post Sir Alex, so City have risen, and the lack of a Champions League triumph is the only blot on their copybook.
In Pep Guardiola they have a real student of the game as manager. A nice guy Ole Gunnar Soskjaer may be, but he’s never going to trouble the real tacticians. If United win, it will be in spite of the Norwegian and not because of him.
Their structure on the footballing side is precisely what United are lacking too.
The Old Trafford outfit will never move forward whilst Ed Woodward is put in charge of transfers, and the Glazers are set on lining their pockets with dividends rather than ploughing profits back into the squad.
There’s a multitude of other reasons that City can point to where they’ve overtaken United, but to list them all here would require an article of epic proportions.
Suffice to say that United have a long, long way to go to even get back on a level playing field where City are concerned.
A win on Saturday is a start, but is barely scratching the surface.