Derby Day Confidence Boost Could Be Crucial for Manchester City's Season

It is hard knowing what to expect as a Manchester City supporter going into Saturday's derby. Hopeful of a victory given the recent winning run, or fearful of the worst?

Such has been the Citizens' season so far - kinda one step forward, one step back - it can be summed up in a nutshell; there hasn't been enough consistency in the league form to warrant a genuine title challenge. Though there isn't a mountain to climb to the top, it feels like City are miles off of where they ought to be.

A contributing factor to this is Manchester City seemingly losing their big-match mentality, something which was crucial to them racking up 198 points across their title-winning campaigns of 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Despite the polar opposite reputations of their managers, not much divides the two Manchester outfits as they look for a foothold in this unique title race. But this is as crucial a derby as they come, for psychological reasons as much as footballing ones.

City go into this clash a point adrift of their rivals, but there's a lot more than three points at stake on Saturday night: bragging rights, a sense of pride, and above all, confidence.

Despite Pep Guardiola continually denying it, the recent unconvincing run that City boast against the division's top sides has taken a toll on the players and has unsurprisingly stripped them of the swagger of recent seasons. They're all human, after all.

Being in a stage of transition, with club legends such as Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Yaya Toure having moved on, City have missed their leaders in big games now for the best part of two years - men who would inspire those beside them and drag their teammates over the line.

One plus is that City appear to have coped with the defensive frailties that marred the beginning of their campaign; they enter the clash with a wealth of options at the back thanks to the resurgence of John Stones, with even Aymeric Laporte struggling to get into the team.

However, how they fare against the deadly Bruno Fernandes and the prolific Marcus Rashford will indicate whether the defence has really stepped up a notch or whether it's been a matter of facing weaker opposition since the 2-0 defeat at Tottenham.

Up front, City have been as goal-shy as they have been for a long, long time. They've missed Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus for long spells, and despite the brilliance of Ferran Torres as a makeshift striker, he isn't the long-term fix. This was an inevitable problem as City failed to acquire a top centre-forward in the summer, especially after all the issues they faced up top last season.

With Jesus back in the frame and Aguero fit enough to make the bench, City may get their attacking edge back, but there are big decisions to be made in that department in the summer.

What's really puzzled City fans at large is the lack of creativity from midfield. Bernardo Silva is a shadow of his former self, Phil Foden isn't getting the game time he deserves and Kevin De Bruyne looks tired of having to do it all on his own all the time. City miss David Silva, now more than ever. His ability to dictate the tempo of play was second to none and such players don't come by all that often.

Have City been the masters of their own downfall? I wouldn't stretch as far as Roy Keane, but the City defence has the odd error in it, including from the goalkeeper, Ederson.

They'll have to be at the races against a United side who won't say no to a gift or two and gobble up any chance they get on the counter. City will dominate possession as they always do, but the likes of Rodri will have to be clever with the 'tactical foul' in transitions as City have been exposed in such situations on one occasion too many in the recent past.

Should they get derby delight on the night, it'll send a powerful message to the rest of the league, but most importantly, to City themselves. They need to believe in themselves again. The dressing room needs that lift, which could turn out to be a season-defining one. Here's to a smashing game on Saturday, and may the best team (City) win.