Something Has To Give

Preparation for the opening Manchester derby of the season has been far from ideal for the respective managers, writes Sky Sports' James Cooper.

United face City at Old Trafford - live on Sky Sports - at lunchtime this Saturday, but the World Cup qualifiers over the weekend have affected the plans of home boss Jose Mourinho and City counterpart Pep Guardiola.

It is highly unusual to have a Manchester derby so early in a season with an international break preceding it, especially when this will be a game scrutinised like few that have gone before it.

Manchester's newest managers should have come face to face in Beijing back in July but rain in the Chinese capital put paid to that, increasing the sense of anticipation ahead of this clash which sees the two combatants with a perfect Premier League record going into Saturday's match.

Having so many players off on their travels has added an extra dimension to the plans of both Jose and Pep, City know already that they'll be without the suspended Sergio Aguero for the game but United may face defensive problems.

Mourinho has had 16 of his players off with their senior international teams plus Marcus Rashford with England's U21s, and of those 16, 12 are now back in the fold.

It might be early in the season but so far Manchester United have had a settled back four comprising Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Daley Blind and Luke Shaw, that may be broken up for the visit of Manchester City thanks to injuries and travelling schedules.

There are major question marks surrounding the fitness of Shaw after he was sent home from international duty by new England boss Sam Allardyce while Valencia lines up for Ecuador in the early hours of Wednesday morning against Peru meaning he will not be back at the Aon Training Complex until 24 hours prior to the game.

If Shaw and Valencia don't make it then Matteo Darmian could appear on the right for the first time under Mourinho with Chris Smalling coming in to partner Bailly and Blind shifting to left-back but he has still to appear for the Nertherlands who have a game in Sweden on Tuesday evening.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan might also be a doubt after coming off in the first half of Armenia's game against the Czech Republic with a thigh problem but so far Mourinho has not given the midfielder a starting berth while Marcos Rojo and Sergio Romero will be back in Manchester at some stage on Thursday after Argentina's game in Venezuela

Rounding off the picture at United are their trio of Frenchman who are playing in Belarus on Tuesday evening. Morgan Schneiderlein and Anthony Martial have already had experience of the Manchester derby but this is the first taste of Red versus Blue for the world's most expensive player, Paul Pogba. He and his French team-mates will start their preparations for the game when they return to Carrington on Wednesday.

Manchester City have had less players away over the past few days and of the nine members of their squad playing for their countries, including England's Joe Hart who will link up with his new Torino team-mates for the first time, five are already back in the fold.

Yes, City top the Premier League table and yes, they registered their most impressive 45 minutes under Guardiola so far in the victory over West Ham, but this trip to Old Trafford is the biggest test yet of just how effectively the principles of the Blues' new boss have soaked into his squad and how ready they are for the cauldron of a Manchester derby.

The hard and fast rule on the Blue side of town has been for Pep to get his International stars back as quickly as possible and back into training which means City's players have flown home straight after playing for their countries or the next morning at the latest.

City still have three players on their travels, Kevin de Bruyne will be back in training in Manchester on Wednesday after playing for Belgium in Cyprus on Tuesday evening and the Blues' schedule has been pushed back into Thursday afternoon to give Pablo Zabaleta and Nicolas Otamendi the best chance of returning to the North West after playing for Argentina.

Clearly Aguero is a huge miss for Manchester City but Guardiola might be considering given Ilkay Gundogan his first involvement since his move to England with Nolito and Kelechi Iheanacho the two leading candidates for the lone role up front.

So all in all not the best preparation for either camp but both share the common challenge of getting their players and plans together as quickly as possible with the clock now ticking down to a game the whole world wants to see.

Credit: Skysports.com