Manchester United and Manchester City kick off Saturday's Premier League fixtures at lunchtime in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men ended a four-game winless run in the top flight with a dominant 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur last time out, which sees them occupy fifth spot in the table after 10 matches.
City, meanwhile, were stunned by Crystal Palace in a 2-0 defeat at the Etihad last weekend, which has seen the third-placed champions fall five points adrift of early pace-setters Chelsea.
The bitter rivals posted contrasting midweek results in the Champions League, as United were forced to come from behind twice to draw with Atalanta BC while Pep Guardiola's men swept aside Club Brugge 4-1.
Here, Sports Mole selects a combined XI from Man United and Man City's squads, using only players expected to be available for the showdown.
There is no question that David de Gea has demonstrated a vast improvement since re-establishing himself as the club's number one, but the Spaniard's form this term was not enough to see him displace Ederson in our team, with the City man already boasting five clean sheets from nine top-flight games this term and conceding a mere six goals.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka's defensive contributions are far superior to that of Kyle Walker's, but the United man continues to struggle on the attacking front and boasts a lower pass accuracy than his compatriot - 85.7% compared to Walker's 88.3% - and the City man just about gets the nod for us. On the opposite side of defence, Joao Cancelo has been one of Guardiola's standout performances this term - completing 1.2 successful dribbles per game, as well as making 1.9 tackles and 2.5 interceptions - and the 27-year-old was a simple pick over Luke Shaw.
Aymeric Laporte and Raphael Varane would have both been in contention for spots in the XI, but the former will miss this tie through suspension while Varane has been ruled out for the next month with a hamstring problem. However, there was no displacing Ruben Dias either way, with the Portuguese's 92.5% pass accuracy and 1.5 aerials won per game typifying that of a world-class defender.
With Paul Pogba also unavailable for this battle due to suspension, Rodri was the only true candidate for the holding midfield role, with the Spaniard posting a 91.9% pass success rate so far this term and making 2.1 tackles per game to keep Fred and Scott McTominay out of the team.
Alongside the Spaniard is a man who is yet to live up to the hype this term, but Kevin De Bruyne has still chalked up two goals and averaged 1.7 key passes per game while not playing at his best level, and the Belgian's ability to conjure up magic in the vital moments sees him edge out teammate Bernardo Silva for a spot. The first United representative in this XI is the irrepressible Bruno Fernandes, who already boasts four goals and three assists from 10 Premier League appearances this season while also coming up with 3.7 key passes per 90.
Despite coming up with the goals in Europe this term, Riyad Mahrez has not had that much of an impact in the Premier League and loses out to four-goal starlet Mason Greenwood, with the 20-year-old ranking higher than Mahrez in goals, shots, key passes and dribbles per game in the league this term. The sole City member of our frontline is Phil Foden, who has been shifted to the left for the purposes of this XI but continues to deputise incredibly well at the tip of the attack with three league goals already.
Some have questioned whether Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Man United has been more of a hindrance than a help, but the five-time Ballon d'Or winner proved his worth to Solskjaer against Atalanta and already has four Premier League goals to his name this season, with the Portuguese superstar aiming to inspire a turnaround in fortunes for his side against their bitter rivals.
Ben Knapton
