The Red Devils head across town to Eastlands on Wednesday night eager to collect three points in their quest to overhaul Chelsea at the Premier League summit but knowing local bragging rights are now of equal significance. It means Ferguson's old adage of Liverpool being United's true derby-day opposition no longer applies. With Sheikh Mansour's wealth at their disposal, City are now a greater threat to their neighbours' aspirations that the old foe from Merseyside. And with the likes of Carlos Tevez around to stir the pot as well, there will be plenty of heat to keep a capacity crowd warm on Wednesday night. "The Liverpool game is one of honour in terms of trophies won," outlined Ferguson. "Liverpool edge it in European Cups, we edge it in FA Cups and World Championships. "We are undoubtedly the two most successful clubs in British football. "Now the meetings with City are ones of great intensity, which is built up by the media explosion around what they are doing and what they are trying to achieve. "The fact we are both in the same city means there is an incredible intensity in this derby game now, which was not there 10 or 15 years ago." Yet, for the huge amount of petro-cash that has poured into the Blues camp from Abu Dhabi, it is still United who hold sway. They were the ones who emerged victorious in three of four meetings last term, including the Carling Cup semi-final, and are leading the pursuit of Chelsea just now, three points ahead of Roberto Mancini's men. Indeed, had it not been for their weekend win at West Brom, City would be heading into the contest weakened by renewed speculation over their manager's position, undermining the plans Mancini is trying to put in place and placing question marks over the belief money will eventually drive the Eastlands outfit to the top of the pile. "It is difficult to say whether it is inevitable they are eventually going to win the league," said Ferguson. "Obviously, in many people's eyes, having the money is a lot better than not but this is still a difficult league to win. City recognise that themselves." As Ferguson is fond of repeating, Sunderland's reputation as the Bank of England team in the 1950s did not do them much good and more recently Newcastle and Leeds spent vast amounts in the search for Premier League success, only to end up as spectacular failures. "Look at the results at the weekend," said Ferguson of the defeats for Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham. "That tells you everything. "If clubs have money and want to spend it, they will. It is not an unusual. It is a fact of life. "The only difference is that City is an untapped well at the moment." Ferguson cannot hope to compete financially, yet still seems able to find hidden treasures, such as Javier Hernandez, who has enjoyed an excellent first couple of months following his summer arrival from Mexico. Hernandez seems certain to gain his first Manchester derby experience given the virus that has whipped through the United squad, leading Ferguson to admit he will have to take a body count before he can finalise his line-up. Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov, Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic are just five of the senior players who have been struggling, while Darron Gibson is amongst those to definitely be ruled out after missing 10 days' worth of training. It also looks like becoming a fixture notable for the absence of Ryan Giggs. Since the veteran was credited with his first United goal, an effort that deflected in off Colin Hendry, at Old Trafford in May 1991, Giggs has not missed a derby meeting. His appearance record of 33 is a record that may never be broken. Yet, barring a miraculous recovery, the 36-year-old will miss tomorrow's game after aggravating a hamstring injury on Saturday morning that has sidelined him for all but one match out of United's last nine. "Ryan will be disappointed but he is out," said Ferguson, who also admitted Nani is highly unlikely to be involved as he struggles to overcome a groin strain.
