The two Manchester clubs will go head-to-head at the Etihad Stadium in a highly-anticipated clash as United look to eat into the nine-point gap between themselves and the league leaders.
City are two points clear at the top of the Premier League table having enjoyed an electric start to the season. They have dropped just four points so far having scored a league-high 33 goals in just 11 games.
Across all competitions Pep Guardiola’s defending champions have won 14 of their 17 games, losing only once – at home to Lyon in the Champions League.
United have endured a rocky campaign thus far although they seem to have come through the other side of a sticky patch which led to suggestions Jose Mourinho could be sacked.
They have won back-to-back games thanks to late winning goals having been 1-0 down, coming from behind to shock Juventus on their own turf in Europe on Wednesday night following a 2-1 win over Bournemouth.
That will give them good confidence to face City, who they beat at the Etihad Stadium last term.
The Red Devils were the only team in the Premier League to win a top-flight game away at City, coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2 back in April on a day when three points would have secured the league title for the hosts.
And given Mourinho has previous of enjoying upsetting the odds, he may like what he sees from the bookies.
That’s because Betway have United at 13/2 to win at City – the biggest price they have ever been made to win a game in the Premier League era.
City, meanwhile, are odds-on at just 4/11 to claim a derby triumph.
Betway spokesman Alan Alger said: “At 13/2, not only has it never been more unlikely for United to win a Manchester Derby, Jose Mourinho’s side has also never started a Premier League match with such big odds.
“You can’t write them off completely after they shrugged off odds of 9/2 to overcome Juventus on Wednesday night.
“But City are arguably the best in Europe at the moment while United are going through a bit of a rough patch to say the least.”
United were underdogs in their clash with Juve earlier in the week too and will hope to cause another big surprise, with Mourinho arguably the master at winning games his teams are major outsiders for.
In addition to his shock away win over City last term, Mourinho was the man in charge at Chelsea when they derailed Liverpool’s title ambitions in 2013-14 with a 2-0 win at Anfield.
With Chelsea and Liverpool currently hot on the heels of City and poised to pounce on any slip-up, City will be doubly keen to mark the 177th meetings with their neighbours with another three points.
Guardiola has never lost successive home games against a single opponent in his managerial career – though United have won four of the last eight meetings, City claiming just two victories in that time.