Manchester City Fan View: Dream derby amidst huge week

Manchester City dismantled Everton on Saturday with a display of pure brilliance that brought the Premier League trophy closer to the Etihad Stadium. The Blues’ season has long been a procession towards the title, but the 3-1 victory at Goodison Park means the official crowning is imminent.

Pep Guardiola’s men will host Manchester United on Saturday knowing that a win would make them champions. Objectively, that’s a tantalising narrative for anybody to get their teeth into. Subjectively, this could be one of the best days we ever experience as football fans.

We are City. We are the long-downtrodden club, for years the laughing stock of the country who had to live in United’s shadow as they conquered all before them. We boast multiple generations of fans who grew up thinking their club would never win a trophy, while their mates from over the road assumed the party would never stop.

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Obviously, that’s not been the case for a while now. The truth is there have been more important Manchester derbies than this that City have won. In 2011, having not won a trophy for 35 years, the clubs clashed at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final. The Blues won 1-0 that day in what the first really significant scalp since the 2008 takeover that catapulted City into the football elite. They won the cup to end that trophyless drought and defeating United had been a huge part of it.

In 2012, City hosted their neighbours at The Etihad with just three games of the season left. Roberto Mancini’s side needed a win to put themselves in pole position for the title, otherwise Alex Ferguson’s side would hold a near insurmountable lead. Again, City won 1-0 and went on to win the league. It was a true and comprehensive dethroning of their illustrious enemy.

This Manchester derby does not come close in terms of importance; it is not season-defining. If United take a draw or even a win, they will rightly celebrate a great result and avoid the ignominy of handing the title to their rivals – a title they used to think was their own. Disappointing though that would be for those of a blue persuasion, City will just win the league one week later instead. Or maybe they’ll win it a week after that. Whatever happens, the Premier League trophy will have the name Manchester City engraved on it again in May – United can delay the inevitable but they can’t stop it.

Despite those things, this derby has taken on immense importance to City fans. That the permutations of the first 31 games of the season should line up so perfectly that on game 32, we could see the Blues wrap it all up is so unlikely that it would have been seen as impossible back in August. But here we are, standing on the precipice of the greatest bragging rights in Manchester derby history.

Whilst the days leading up to that game will dominate the news cycle and we will go anticipating the best result possible, nothing can be taken for granted yet. First of all, Jose Mourinho will be desperate to avoid having to give Guardiola a congratulatory handshake after the match. He will set up defensively and he might fancy his chances of stifling City.

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Despite the obvious significance of the match, it won’t even be the most important of the three that City will play in the space of a week. The derby is sandwiched between the two legs of the Champions League quarter final against Liverpool. Whilst we as supporters might be desperate to rub our greatest rivals noses in our success, Guardiola must consider the bigger picture. If any of these three games – starting on Wednesday at Anfield – will bear the brunt of squad rotation, the reality is it has to be the derby.

This week could hardly be bigger for City. Winning the league against United would be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. The atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium will be electric. If they can pull it off, then follow it up with progress into the Champions League semi-final, it truly will be seven of the best days in the history of our club.