Squads, quotes, weather etc.
Ferguson:
"Maybe a couple of City's new players, if it's their first time, might get caught out.
"A couple of years ago we went to City and I played Patrice Evra on his debut. I don't think he realised what a derby game really was. It can never be just another game, it's a different intensity, but most of that comes from the fans.
"I just hope City show a bit more ambition than they did last season. I was surprised at their approach in the last derby game [Ronaldo penalty at the Wastelands].
They tried to gee their fans up by handing out thousands of blue-and-white scarves. They spent a fortune on it and never had a shot at goal. It was amazing; we were going there to win the League and they were quite happy about it.
"I'm sure they will be more ambitious this time, although I still think they will play with just one up front. Sven's teams are always defensive, he was like that when he was at Benfica.
A reference to Eriksson:
"As far as I am concerned, Sven-Goran Eriksson is just another City manager. That's all. Carlos Queiroz knows more about him than I do. There's a few people tried the England job and a few people tried the City job. Sven has an incredible CV in terms of experience and I'm not surprised to see him back in the game. You do miss it when you're out because football becomes part of your life.
"I think every City manager who comes along is told it is a big season for them. Stuart Pearce was in the job for three months and they were talking about him for the England manager's job. Dearie me. I don't know how many managers have been there since I've come to Manchester - 12 in 20 years. That tells you a lot."
When informed told of an erroneous story that Eriksson had bought a bottle of wine worth £415 for them to share:
"If he gives it to me as a present I'll accept it but I am not going to be sharing it with him. I'll take it home."
And City's potential:
"In the long term, as Chelsea have proved, if you have enough money and buy the right players, you can do it.
"Maybe this is just the start. Apparently this guy has so much money, so who knows what is ahead. He might end up bringing in some higher profile, big international stars."
"Every City manager who comes along finds it is a big season for them. I don't know how many managers they have had since I came to United but it is a lot of changes.
"There have been some really good managers there like Howard Kendall, Peter Reid, Joe Royle and Kevin Keegan. Mel Machin was a really good coach. The expectation is big there.
"Sven has good experience. He has been at Lazio, Benfica, and Sampdoria.
"That's an incredible CV in terms of experience. Maybe club football suits him better than managing England.
Carrick is a little more charitable:
"Sven can be very satisfied with what he did for England.
"Reaching three quarter-finals is not an easy thing to do, history proves that.
"You can't please some people until you win something. But England have only ever won one trophy, so by no means should people just expect us to win things pretty easily.
"Sven has been successful everywhere he has been, and I include England in that.
"We want the points.
"We want to get back to winning ways and put a run together. We want to be sitting on top of the table not where we are at the moment."
Eriksson:
"Some City fans came to me in a restaurant, and they said, 'Don't worry about the Premier League, just beat Manchester United twice'.
"When I took the job, I don't think anyone was comparing the two clubs - not after what has happened over the past 10 years. (Ed. ???????????)
"It's a dream, of course, that we will reach their level in years to come, but we don't talk about that now, it's too far off.
"I am sure they will find someone else to play on the right wing and someone good, as well. And if they have not got Rooney, then Carlos Tevez is not bad. Absolutely not.
"Manchester United are one of the world's biggest clubs and I managed big clubs like Benfica and Lazio. When you manage those sort of clubs, it's different to managing a team near the bottom but you still have to manage in the right way. It's never easy. It's only easy when you win."
Responding to Ferguson's insuation that he only took the job for the money:
"I don't even want to discuss stupid things like that.
[And then he does]
"I don't have to answer, why should I? I took this job, one, because it's the Premier League, two, it's a big club, and three, it's a big project. That's why I'm here."
More:
"I took this job because, number one, I wanted to work in the Premier League. Everybody does. Number two, this is a big club and, number three, what the owners have in mind here is a big project. That's why I said yes.
"My job here is to move the club up the table. We don't want to be at the bottom, we want to be much higher. Exactly how high we can get depends, unfortunately today, on how much money we have to spend, how much we have to invest in players and how much we are willing to spend on the academy. That's my goal. It's a hard project, but the money should be there."
Richard Dunne:
"We've beaten United three or four times in the last six years and I suppose each time it was a bit of a shock, even when we have beaten them quite comfortably.
"I think that was more about our desire on derby day than anything else but this time people won't really know whether we are going to beat them or not. Before they would always back United as favourite. Now we are going into the game looking a decent side. It is all up in the air. We still don't know what we are going to be like this year, but we believe we can attack teams rather than holding on and trying to nick the odd goal. We will give teams a proper game this year."
BBC Squads:
Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has failed to bring in a new keeper so 20-year-old rookie Kasper Schmeichel continues in goal.
Brazilian midfielder Elano is expected to shake off a knock so Eriksson is likely to name an unchanged line-up.
Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo starts a three-match ban for his sending-off against Portsmouth.
He joins the injured Wayne Rooney, Owen Hargreaves, Louis Saha, Anderson and Gary Neville on the sidelines.
Man City (from): Schmeichel, Hart, Corluka, Onuoha, Richards, Dunne, Garrido, Ball, Fernandes, Geovanni, Hamann, Johnson, Ireland, Petrov, Elano, Bianchi, Bojinov, Corradi.
Man Utd (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Brown, Simpson, Bardsley, Pique, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, O'Shea,
BBC Weather:
Showers and a bit of sun apparently. 20°C
The Telegraph:
Ferguson and Eriksson can point to a cabinet of silverware but there is one trophy the Scot does not possess
"It is a golden plate given to me at the Lazio training ground for winning five derbies in a row against Roma, something that had never happened in their history," said Eriksson. "Lots of people in Rome did not go to work after losing the derby, I can tell you."
The Observer:
Sir Alex Ferguson is a lousy actor. He fooled absolutely no one when pretending not to know how many managers Manchester City have had during his two decades at Manchester United.
'Twelve is it?' he asked rhetorically. 'They've had some really good ones, too. Frank Clark, Joe Royle, Peter Reid, Kevin Keegan, Mel Machin, Howard Kendall. But 12 managers in 20 years is a lot of changes.'
So it is. But as City's twelfth manager in 20 years appears to be proving, you can make a lot of changes and win your first two games without conceding a goal. That results in your supporters ringing radio phone-ins giddy with excitement at going into this afternoon's derby four points ahead of United, with last season's champions already forced to find replacements for the injured Wayne Rooney and the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo.
Suddenly United are not the only show in town. And the reason is not the Thai money or the batch signings of foreign players, it is the manager. Sven-Goran Eriksson has pitched his tent on the lawn of the club he was secretly talking to five years ago, and you can forget Jose Mourinho v Rafa Benitez or Arsene Wenger v Sam Allardyce, managerial rivalries do not come any bigger than this.
It is easy to tell Ferguson is rattled, because he is pretending not to be. 'As far as I am concerned, Sven-Goran Eriksson is just another City manager,' he said. 'That's all. Carlos Queiroz knows more about him than I do. There's a few people tried the England job and a few people tried the City job. Sven has an incredible CV in terms of experience and I'm not surprised to see him back in the game. You do miss it when you're out because football becomes part of your life.'
Then an innocent question catches Ferguson slightly off-guard, and the welcome mat of politeness is suddenly whipped away. Are you surprised he came back to work in England, after the grief he went through with the national team? 'No, I think he probably got a better financial offer in England,' Ferguson said. 'I think that will be far more suitable to Sven.'
Norman Whiteside:
"I played in Manchester and Merseyside derbies, but the biggest game of all is still United against Liverpool."