Home advantage could be key for United, however, and Mourinho believes the atmosphere at Old Trafford might give United the edge over City as he prepares for his first taste of the Manchester derby.

"He won, I won, we won when we were young and we will win when we are a little bit older!"

Guardiola and Mourinho are two of the three best-paid managers in world football - along with Carlo Ancelotti, Guardiola's successor at Bayern Munich - and they were quick to get to work.

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic amongst the goals and Paul Pogba adding much-needed zest to United's engine room, they look slight favourites to take the points. This week, a Manchester United legend and the big-time agent of three big-time United players had a lot to say about the Manchester City boss.

Paul Pogba is another new arrival who has made an impact on De Gea, with the France global returning to United after four years in Serie A with Juventus, while United manager Jose Mourinho also earned praise from the shot-stopper. "When Sergio Aguero is available he plays, we know their formation".

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"Against Southampton it wasn't a derby, it was a match between a club from Manchester against a club from the south of the United Kingdom and the support was fantastic". It's very positive the way we play.

"In this moment, he doesn't play and they have an fantastic, rich squad in options".

City captain Kompany has returned to training after stepping up his recovery from a thigh strain picked up last May in the Champions League semifinal defeat to Real Madrid. "Sergio Romero and Marcos Rojo went around the globe, Venezuela, Argentina, Europe", Mourinho told reporters at his news conference.

Talk surrounding that relationship is, though, compounded by chatter about this match's implications on the title race and sub-plots such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic facing his former manager, but Mourinho is ignoring such background noise. "Only when I think the time is right".

The "guide" even brings up how United had bald legends like City had Pep Guardiola, bringing up names such as Wayne Rooney, Sir Bobby and - wait for it - Howard Webb! "We want to make sure that when he comes back he is 100 per cent fit". Either way, it's just one more piece of evidence to whet the appetite before this huge match kicks off tomorrow afternoon. I always want to be in the position of emotional control because for me it is just a game against a very good opponent. "And I would love all of the players to go because it would mean that everybody is being selected for their national teams".