Man City and Manchester United could provide the best Manchester derby in years

On Sunday City will take on United in the 188th Manchester derby, and this meeting of the two neighbours could provide the best spectacle in years.

Manchester derbies are always huge affairs with a mixture of anticipation, excitement and anxiety building up in the days leading up to matchday. Last season things went pretty well for City, as Pep Guardiola's side eased to 2-0 and 4-1 wins at Old Trafford and the Etihad Stadium respectively.

March's home win was a particularly important one for City, as it brought an end to a three-match losing streak against their bitter rivals at home. Although United started that game fairly well - Jadon Sancho drew United level following Kevin de Bruyne's early opener - the game ended up much the same way the meeting at Old Trafford earlier on in the campaign did, with City utterly dominating United.

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While that was great for City fans - any true Blue would snap up in an instant the offer of a comfortable derby win rather than a nail-biter - after the opening 25 minutes the match was not much of a footballing spectacle. Neither was the previous derby, nor the one before that.

In fact, the last meeting of Manchester's giants that can be legitimately labelled a great game was the 3-2 United win in April 2018, the match that saw City surrender a 2-0 lead and pass up the chance to clinch the Premier League title against their rivals.

Since then, Manchester derbies have tended to follow a pattern. First of all, there is usually a winner; only one of the last 11 meetings between City and United in all competitions has ended in a draw (0-0 in December 2020).

Of the 10, City have won six and