Man City need to hammer home scale of Ralf Rangnick's Manchester United task in derby

Manchester City have dominated Manchester United in the Pep Guardiola era - but not as much as they should have done.

Lengthening a streak that the Blues began when Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013, they have now finished ahead of their rivals in each of their last eight years. With 19 points currently the difference between the sides, the chances of making it nine are highly likely.

Despite the clear gulf in class between the teams, City have - to the frustration of the players and fans - not been able to make it clear when the derby comes around. In just one of the three Premier League titles Guardiola has won has his team done the double over United, and they have lost their last three meetings at the Etihad and four out of the last five.

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In a sense, that shouldn't be too surprising. United possess quality players and, just like Spurs, are both well-equipped to exploit City weaknesses on an off-day and enjoy causing an upset. However, the clear disparity between the two teams over 38 games - 9, 19, 32, 15, 12 and 19 points to date - has made it bizarre that City have encountered so much trouble when they have played each other.

Ralf Rangnick was certainly under no illusions when he became interim manager at Old Trafford following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. "To say I will challenge the top Premier League managers in the next few weeks or months, is not realistic," he said after surveying footage of United's bruising hammerings against Liverpool and City at Old Trafford.

Three months into his project and while the defeats have dried up, there are very few positives to have emerged under Rangnick. Handed an