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

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

“Without the injuries I don’t know the position we would be in but I can imagine,” said Guardiola. “I cannot prove it but everybody thinks we would 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 successive games.

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

“They might sack me, that could happen. But leaving now, in this position? No chance.

“There are many things we have to do; go into the market at the right moment, maybe in winter or maybe the other one, to make the squad bigger, so they compete with each other to make the players better.

“Nothing is eternal. You have to be honest. If I am losing and losing and losing, more and more, in the end I say, ‘guys, you have to get someone else to fix this’.”

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

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

City though are not without their worries. Guardiola’s long-time friend Txiki Begiristain is leaving in the summer, to be replaced by Sporting technical director Hugo Viana, bringing him into conflict with Amorim after years of working together.

More importantly, the end of their massive financial case is edging closer, 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 were to win the derby, City will drop out of the top four.

United will remain in the bottom half whatever the result.

In title terms, it is a game of virtually no relevance compared to what has gone before. But given their respective wealth, illustrious pasts and future uncertainties, that is what makes it so compelling.