Manchester United legend Paul Scholes rates beating Manchester City as "vital".
United go to the Etihad today.
"Beating City - as United's new group of players should know by now ahead of Sunday's game - is a vital part of life at the club," Scholes wrote in his column for the Independent.
"My view of City overall has not changed. After a week which has brought defeats to West Ham and Newcastle there is something about them - you might even call it a touch of arrogance - that they do not have to take their opposition into consideration.
"I realise that it is a point I have made before, but I don't think the central midfield is right, and that they are getting the best out of Yaya Toure. He still looks laboured to me, you might even say he looks a bit bored. He has the ability to step it up when he wants to, and that could be the case on Sunday."
