Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has declared that his strikers need to improve their performances urgently.
The expensive quartet of Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko have scored 19 times in the Premier League this season.
City have matched United for home goals but have only struck nine times away from the Etihad, compared to United's 18 away goals.
Mancini believes that City's title defence will ultimately be won or lost on the strength of his forwards' ability to find the target.
He told The Sun: "It's always the case that you can have one striker in a difficult spell during the season.
"Usually, when you have four strikers, two or three of them are not scoring but one is. But at the moment we have four strikers who can't score.
"This can change maybe on Sunday and after that it will be okay. But we need to work more. Our season depends on our strikers. If we start to score like last year we will have a big chance."
City have the chance to draw level with United at the top of the table this weekend when the two clash in a hotly-anticipated Manchester derby.
Liam Power
