Man City v Man Utd: The sub-plots behind Sunday’s derby

It is easy to see that City’s ship can be righted relatively easily.

“Without the injuries, I don’t know what position we would be in, but I can imagine,” Guardiola said. “I can’t prove it, but everyone thinks we’d be a better team.”

The City boss also insists he has no regrets about signing a two-year extension last month after his side had just lost four consecutive games.

He said: “I wouldn’t be able to sleep – even worse than now – if I thought I was leaving when the club is in this situation. Impossible.

“They can fire me, it could happen. But to leave now, in this position? No chance.

“There are a lot of things we need to do; go into the market at the right time, maybe in the winter or maybe the other, to make the squad bigger so they compete with each other to make the players better.

“Nothing lasts forever. You guys have to be honest. If I’m losing and losing and losing, more and more, I finally say, ‘guys, you’ve got to get somebody else to fix this.'”

For United, the problems are far more complex. “We have a lot of problems,” is Amorim’s assessment. “They (City) are in a better place than us.”

United have been well beaten on their last three visits to the Etihad Stadium and most neutrals will feel City have that extra quality.

However, City is not without concerns. Guardiola’s long-time friend Txiki Begiristain is leaving this summer to be replaced by sporting director Hugo Viana, bringing him into conflict with Amorim after years of working together.

More importantly, the end of their massive financial case is approaching, which has the potential to create uncertainty in negotiations with transfer targets, even if City continue to insist they have done nothing wrong.

In the short term, if United win the derby, City will drop out of the top four.

United remain in the bottom half regardless of the result.

On the face of it, it’s a game that has virtually no relevance to what has gone before. But given their respective wealth, illustrious pasts and future uncertainties, that’s what makes it so compelling.