Paul Scholes has admitted he will
not consider Manchester City to
be a major threat until the
Premier League's big spenders
boast some silverware.
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The Manchester United camp is in
a bullish mood ahead of
Saturday's crucial derby, with
neither players nor manager
even considering a loss to their
crosstown and now title rivals.
Sir Alex Ferguson feels United can
all but sew up the Premier
League title with victory in the
early kick-off at Old Trafford
while his players have spoken of
their desire to secure bragging
rights over an increasingly noisy
neighbour.
United veteran Scholes knows
how much the fixture means to
fans as a standalone match but
he said he does not yet quite see
it as the kind of season-defining
clash that occurs when United
face Chelsea or Arsenal -
although he conceded it is
growing ever closer.
"They are definitely getting
closer,'' said Scholes. "Whether
they are alongside Chelsea and
Arsenal yet I am not sure. They
would probably have to win
something to become main rivals.
But I am sure this year they will
be fighting for it and the same
will be true in years to come with
more improvement.
"It is more than local pride now,''
he said. "We are both going for
trophies and we are both main
rivals for trophies. Years ago,
they were in the bottom half of
the league, or not even in it, and
we were always red-hot
favourites. Even then it didn't
necessarily mean we were going
to win, as results proved. And
they have better quality players
now, which just makes matches
against City even more
interesting.''
Ferguson said the match has the
potential to be a turning point -
for better or worse - in the title
race for both sides. City currently
sit five points behind United, who
have a game in hand, with
Arsenal poised a point ahead of
City.
"It won't be decided tomorrow
but the game could be decisive
for whoever gets a result when
you look back,'' said Ferguson. "At
this stage of the season you are
going to see a lot of important
games. There could be a focus on
tomorrow or the matches against
Chelsea or Arsenal because the
later into the season it goes, the
more important the games
become because you don't have
much time to recover.''
Ferguson, like Scholes,
immediately thinks of Arsenal and
Chelsea as his biggest threats for
honours but he admitted that
scenario is quickly changing
thanks to Roberto Mancini's team.
"There has been a consistent
thread in the Premier League for
the last 14 years. It has been
Arsenal, ourselves and Chelsea.
You have to respect they were
the winners last year. They are
the champions. But City are in a
challenging position, there is no
question about that. On the run
towards the finishing line you will
get a lot of interesting games
and City are involved in that.''
Meanwhile, Nani and Ryan Giggs
have highlighted the threat of
former team-mate Carlos Tevez,
who these days leads City from
the front as their captain,
talisman and top scorer. But that
has not stopped Nani expressing
his confidence in securing a
positive result, claiming it is an
"obligation" to beat City.
Nani said in the Sun: "A win over
City is an obligation. To beat them
will put a big distance between us
in the title race and also mean
we have taken four points off
them this season. I've always
been optimistic and insist we are
favourites to win the Premier
League.
Nani added: "Carlos was our
companion and now he is a rival.
How do we stop him? By
anticipating what he's up to and
making sure he never feels
comfortable. For the less he is
involved the bigger the
advantage for us. We are not
obsessed with him but we will
make sure we do not give him
any chances. Without doubt Tevez
is very important to City. But
they have other players who are
also big dangers to us.''
Giggs added that a loss would be
hard to live down, saying: "You
don't tend to leave the house for
a week if you lose. You'll be
walking down the street and a
City fan will come and let you
know about it. But that's just
with me being a local lad. It will be
tight but hopefully we'll win.
"City are really solid but have
that bit of quality as well. There's
Carlos obviously, who we know a
lot about. David Silva adds that
bit of magic that no other player
possesses. Obviously when you
lose quality players you are going
to miss them. Carlos was certainly
a quality player. His goals, his
movement, his strength - he's
just a very good player. But at
United we've lost quality players
in the past and the club moves
on. That's the thing with United."