Man Utd vs Man City: Reds Have A Chance To Seal The Title
th league championship will surely follow. The motivation for the home side is obvious, and they will undoubtedly be out for revenge after they were dealt a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of a rampant City at Old Trafford last season, a match which Sir Alex himself described as not only his worst day as a manager but his worst day in football. United will look to their leading scorer Robin van Persie to earn his own personal drought in front of goal on Monday. The talismanic Dutchman has failed to find the net for United in his last 9 starts, and Sir Alex is expecting the £24million man to find his form again when he faces City. "He doesn't need a rest that's for sure, he's a strong lad with great physique," Ferguson said. "The goals will come, all strikers have dry spells and you hope it ends quickly, it's part of being a striker." And despite his current lack of goals, Van Persie still has 19 Premier League goals this season, second only to Liverpool's Luis Suarez, who has 22. City will be looking to ensure United have a less than comfortable evening at Old Trafford, make no doubt about it. Roberto Mancinis men have been a somewhat unpredictable entity in the Premier League this season. The reigning champions have won 18, drew 8 and lost 4 of their games, and their inconsistency has proved costly in the defence of their title. And whilst Mancini has long since written off his sides chances of winning a second straight Premier League crown, he is adamant that the current table flatters United, and his team do not deserve to be 15 point behind them. It's not a true table," said the Italian, who did concede United will be worthy title-winners. "We have eight games left, and if we play well maybe we can reduce this gap. That should be our target. "We'll (be motivated) because it's a derby and because we want to show maybe that we don't deserve to stay 15 points behind. "It's not important for the title race, but the derby is always the derby. It's important for us and for them, and there is always pressure. Every derby is important. "We want to go there and try to win. We know it's not easy to win there, but we want to play a good game, to do our job and we'll see what happens." Not since Blackburn finished 21 points adrift of top spot in 1996 has a defending champion fallen so far behind the leaders while attempting to retain the title, and United could yet break that record with a win against City on Monday. One thing is for sure, expect to see all of the passion and drama that weve come to love from this fixture in recent years.