• Manchester City v Manchester United, FA Cup semi-final

For the pride of Manchester

Can Wayne Rooney provide the difference for Manchester United? © PA Photos

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"This Is Our City", proclaims a banner at Manchester City's Eastlands home. Many City fans would argue that meeting Manchester United in London is the chance to meet their rivals on their own territory - resulting from a perception that few United fans actually hail from Manchester. It is an accusation that has been deflected in two ways.

Firstly, a series of surveys and questionnaires have shown that a high proportion of United's core support does actually hail from the Mancunian metropolis. The legions of coaches and trains will be half and half on their way down to the capital on Saturday to prove that.

And then there is the fact that United are indeed used to trips to Wembley, this being their ninth visit since the stadium reopened in 2007. City are visiting for the first time since a dramatic Division Two Play-Off final win in 1999, a victory that occurred four days after United lifted the European Cup in Barcelona. And that was the old Wembley.

But this is a new Manchester City, and the gap between the two clubs is as close as it has been since the early 1980s. Hard cash and heavy investment of it has seen to that. Despite a slump in form that ended hopes of a challenge for the Premier League title, and may yet endanger their minimum target of Champions League football for 2011-12, the Blues must not travel to Wembley with doom in their hearts. Recent derbies may have swung in United's fashion in the last couple of seasons but each success has been a hard-won result for the aristocrats from Old Trafford.

City are entitled to feel that twin footballing cliches can swing in their favour. Form goes out the window in both the FA Cup and local derbies, say the annals of history. United may be at an imperial stage of the season, but other concerns in the chase for a 19th league title and the potential of a revisit to Wembley for the Champions League final may well distract, and cause Sir Alex Ferguson to shuffle his pack in such a way that will lessen their effectiveness.

And both teams enter this occasion shorn of a bull-like talisman who at one point looked set for the exit door. Carlos Tevez is hamstrung while Wayne Rooney, so influential against Chelsea, serves continuing penance for a foul mouth. In their stead, both Ferguson and Roberto Mancini must turn to their wild cards. Of Mario Balotelli and Dimitar Berbatov, the Italian will always be the wilder but the Bulgarian enigma turned in one of his quixotic displays in a previous Wembley FA Cup semi-final. His penalty fluff against Everton two years ago ended a previous hunt for a Treble.

The form book looks bad for City, and there is always a danger of a big freeze on a big occasion, but they must not look for portents. This is their biggest match since 1981, and an opportunity must be grasped and not feared.

Manchester City will hope to get one over their arch-rivals © PA Photos

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Manchester City player to watch: Mario Balotelli. His talent is rarely doubted, his temperament is generally accepted as Fahrenheit 451 grade of hot-headed but City need a player to prove worthy of a big occasion. Balotelli's stay in Manchester has been a one-man column-inch generator, and it would seem he either scores, gets substituted or sent off, and has come close to all three on a couple of occasions. There are suspicions, however, that of City's many recent signings, he is in an exclusive group of players who Roberto Mancini actually wanted at the club. It is now time to repay that faith.

Manchester United player to watch: Dimitar Berbatov. It is one of the oddities of the 2010-11 season that the Premier League's top goalscorer is no longer a first choice for his club. The Rooney revival and the Englishman's comfort with Javier Hernandez as his partner has relegated a player who still looks in form. Decisive strikes against Fulham and Bolton and a 45-minute cameo at West Ham that showed off his finery when possession football was required mean that Ferguson will expect a rather different contribution to the indolence of that aforementioned penalty, and the off-key showing that preceded it.

Key battle: Nemanja Vidic v Edin Dzeko. Vidic is largely acknowledged as the anchor that has kept Manchester United in their quest for glory on all three fronts, and he is a player who is almost ever-present, missing just two league matches all season, and continuing to bury his Fernando Torres hoodoo in the two-parter with Chelsea. Dzeko, meanwhile, may also be thankful for the presence of Torres, since he is sheltered by the Spaniard's status as most expensive flop of the last transfer window. The Bosnian needs this match to announce himself and has previously scored against United for Wolfsburg in the Champions League.

Trivia: Manchester United's father figure, Sir Matt Busby, their manager from 1945 to 1969, played in a losing FA Cup semi, in 1932, a losing final, in 1933, and at long last in 1934, a winning final. For Manchester City.

Stats: Saturday will provide the largest ever attendance for a Manchester derby, as a 90,000 full house is expected. The previous record was 78,000 on September 20, 1947, when both clubs were playing at Maine Road as Old Trafford was being rebuilt after bomb damage sustained during World War Two.

Odds: City are 3.75 at bet365, and United are 2.10. Remember that extra-time is a draw at the bookies so if you think that will happen then that's on offer at 3.25.

Prediction: With everything riding on this one game, can this be the moment that City put paid to that calculator-style banner that measure City's term without a trophy? They will need to win this, and will do. Only Stoke and Bolton can stop them now.

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