A year ago, Manchester United blew a major lead in the standings and wound up losing the title on the final day of the season. While the team currently has a 15 point lead heading into Monday's derby, that loss from a year ago continues to resonate for the club.
"The way we lost it resonated with a lot of people in the club," said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. "The only thing you can do after that kind of thing is do better. That's what the players did. They focused, their team spirit was terrific and there was a definite purpose in terms of getting the title back. They have achieved a lot this season and their approach to win the next match has been very positive."
He added, "We've improved. That's the difficulty for [City]. Even if their points tally was as good as it was this time last season, it wouldn't have matched ours anyway. So you have to give us credit for that - 25 wins out of 30 shows the conviction of the players' performance."
Even if Ferguson is not quite ready to concede the title, City manager Roberto Mancini seems to feel that his team pulling off another masterful comeback is not happening.
"We don't have the same importance as United in this moment. Maybe in 10 years we will be the same. This is history, and the history is very important," he stated. "We need to improve as a team and as a club but for this we need more years, we can't do this in two years. I think in 10 years, if we improve, if we win the league every year, it will be the same for us.
"You can't win every year," he added."Last year United didn't win anything, apart from the Charity Shield - but they continued to improve their team."
Prediction: Manchester United wins 4-1.
Start Time: 3 PM EST
TV: ESPN
Watch Highlights from the last Derby HERE.