Keep an eye on the latest news, views and Man Utd transfer rumours with our dedicated blog updates.

Manchester Uniteds eagerly anticipated clash with Manchester City is upon us and its sure to be a cracker.

Erik ten Hagsside have improved a lot since they suffered back-to-back defeats at the start of the season. United have since won four league games on the bounce and are pushing for a fifth this afternoon.

Victory for the Reds will see them move to within two points of Pep Guardiolas men with a game in hand over the Blues. One player who will certainly not feature today is captainHarry Maguire.

Ten Hag confirmed that the England international is not fit having played through with an injury against Germany in the Nations League. Fortunately for United, they will be able to call upon two players who have performed excellently for their new manager.

Marcus Rashford andAnthony Martialhave both taken part in training towards the end of this week and could feature. Cristiano Ronaldo is also fit following an injury scare on international duty but he may have to settle for a place on the bench.

TODAYS BIG TALKING POINT: Should Rashford start against City?Have your say here.

Keep tabs on the latest news, views and transfer rumours with our dedicated blog updates.

Our coverage on the Manchester United transfer blog will pause for the time being ahead of the Manchester derby.

You can follow all of the action from the Etihad Stadium in ourmatchday blog here.

Make sure to return here after the game for all the post-match reaction.

The Manchester derby is just over three hours away and ahead of the game Ten Hag has sent a message to Guardiola.

We want to play our game with our principles and our rules. We always respect our opponents, it doesnt matter who they are but we want to play our game. Of course, I know him but we know everything about each other. When we worked together was eight years ago and as a manager, one of the main things is you always have to develop. Thats what he has done and hope I did too. Hopefully we have changed in the right way. Im sure he did and me too. The best manager [in the world]? Hes definitely one of them, and for me he is, yes. But there are many more really good world-class managers in football.

Away from the Manchester derby briefly and United have sent their condolences to those affected by the tragic events in Malang, Indonesia which has seen at least 174 football fans die.

Ahead of todays big match why not spend some time reading about a player whose story of crossing the divide in Manchester is little told.

Frederic Veseli was released by the Blues but he did not let that stop his footballing journey and he found some solace at United.

Former Reds captain Evra has told supporters not to rule out a victory this afternoon when they travel to the Etihad Stadium.

I feel confident. I think its going to be a great game. City are having a good start, but its not a dominant start. I think we have a chance. Recently we have had some very good results, we only lost one game in the last six, but he made changes for that defeat in the Europa League, its not easy when the team changes. We have good momentum, I think the team is playing well together, and to be honest Im confident because even when we are having a bad season we always perform against City, apart from last year. In the past when we were struggling people said City would destroy us, but they didnt and this time we have a big chance. Its going to be tough, but Im confident. I like it when we play City when we arent confident and we are up against the wall. Thats my only worry, right now, things are pretty good and going into this game when things are pretty good, that is when City can hurt us.

Erik ten Hag has his most important team to pick today as he prepares for his very first Manchester derby.

The Reds travel to the Etihad buoyant following four league victories on the bounce ahead of the international break.

With some fringe players having performed well during said break, Ten Hag has a big decision to make this afternoon.

Here is how our United writers think they should line-up today.

Erik ten Hag has toldMUTVthat he knew when Marcus Rashford was back on track.

According to the boss, winning the Premier Leagues player of the month for September is a good sign that Rashford is on the right track.

Im really happy for him. That tells that Marcus is back on track. He is in his middle 20s, he showed in the past in his young career already a lot. Last year was definitely a setback but you see, hes back on that level and Im really happy and Im convinced he can score a lot more goals and that he will be a contributor for our team. But also, its a team performance that [allows] Marcus to do that work because they bring him the balls in their cooperation, so its good to see and it will be a stimulus for both, the manager and the players, [to know] that we are in a good direction so now, [we need to] keep going.

Marcus Rashford interacts with Erik ten Hag

(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

United should focus on more than just Haaland says Ten Hag

The Reds have been warned that they should not focus solely on Haaland today. Speaking in his pre-match press conference the Dutch manager said:

Of course when you have a player [Sancho] who played in the past with a player [Haaland], you ask him. I also think it is our job in advance to analyse as a team and if individual players have huge contribution to the result, we have to do our job and that is what I am doing with my staff and players because they can give us more details. I like Haalands attitude. How he is on the pitch. He is direct, his life is about goals and he is direct to the goal of the opponent. He can also create goals, but once again, I respect him, but for us on Sunday we are not playing against Haaland, we are playing against Man City and for us, its not about Man City. It is about us and them being an opponent.

Discussing their connection in recent matches, Eriksen toldMUTV:

Scott has done very well and I think you can see that from the games. I think in the first few ones we were looking for each other a bit and seeing where we are, but now I think we are starting to get a good connection and a good feeling of where you should be, and also because of the instructions of the manager as he has the positions he would like us to be in. So first of all we need to focus on our partnership and, at the same time, we need to focus on where the manager wants us to be. I think its gone well, but also when you win games its just easier to look back and the confidence builds up and you forget the small mistakes you make and remember the good things. There are a lot of things we can improve, but its a good road were on.

Erik ten Hag has saidManchester Unitedare preparing for the second phase of their squad rebuild.

United spent a record 225.4million on five signings in the summer but Ten Hag suggested last month the club would be open to strengthening the squad in the Januarytransfer window.

When United released their financial results last week, football directorJohn Murtoughsaid they were ahead of schedule in our recruitment plans as envisaged at the start of the summer, and we do not anticipate the same level of activity in future windows.

Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial could return for Manchester United against City on Sunday.

Rashford has missed the last two games with a muscular injury and Martial has only played 45 minutes this season due to hamstring and Achilles injuries.

Martial and Rashford were absent from training sessions earlier in the international break but trained on Friday and are in contention to return to the matchday squad.

Read more on todays injury news here.

Hello and welcome to the Manchester United live transfer blog.

It is derby day and across the MEN website you will be able to follow all the action from the Etihad Stadium.

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