Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City.

Still not much exciting going on. United are playing calmly enough in defence and midfield, but City are keeping their shape.

A fairly controlled start to the game, no rampant pressing yet.

There are five minutes until kick off, and the players are ready on the pitch. Kick off is imminent.

I'm predicting a 2-0 win for Manchester City. Let me know what yours are.

You can find me on Twitter at @lxndrthrtn, where you can send me comments for me to use in the live blog.

Louis van Gaal: "You have to ask the fans, it's not so important who is the favourite. When you look at the facts they are first and we are second or third, City are the favourites I think. We have to do our work, prepare our game, but we had one day less so it's more difficult for us. But we have to do that, we hope that we can beat Manchester City. I am definitely looking forward to the derby against City. I think it is something very special and we should be very happy that we have two big clubs in one city that are also playing in the Champions League."

Manuel Pellegrini (to the BBC): "I always say that it's a match of six points because it is a match against a team that is behind you, but it is not a game that will decide the title this year. At this moment we are in a good moment, we are top of the league, but that doesn't mean that we are going to do a better season than the last one. It's important not to make the same mistakes and try to improve every game."

For Manchester City, the biggest story is that Vincent Kompany has been recalled after a mixture of injury, and sitting on the naughty bench after playing for Belgium when Manuel Pellegrini would have rather he didn't. Fernando plays in midfield, and Wilfried Bony continues in place of the injured Sergio Aguero.

The big news for Manchester United is that Wayne Rooney starts despite struggling for the short period of the last three years. Also in the side is Juan Mata, who sat out the match against CSKA Moscow, and Bastian Schweinsteiger starts after being subbed at half-time in the same match.

TEAMS: Manchester United: De Gea, Valencia, Rojo, Smalling, Jones, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Herrera, Mata, Martial, Rooney. Subs: Romero, Carrick, Blind, Memphis, Fellaini, Lingard, Darmian. /// Manchester City: Hart, Sagna, Kolarov, Otamendi, Kompany, Fernando, Fernandinho, Toure, Sterling, De Bruyne, Bony. Subs: Caballero, Zabaleta, Navas, Mangala, Demichelis, Roberts, Iheanacho.