"I feel confident of a City win in the Manchester derby"

Manchester City legend Shaun Goater has backed Pep Guardiola's side to beat Manchester United and rub salt into the wounds of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men at Old Trafford in Saturday's derby.

Goater, who started his English football career at United but never made a first-team appearance under Sir Alex Ferguson, was a huge success during his time at City from 1998 to 2003 and became an iconic figure as the club rose from the depths of the third tier back to the Premier League.

Speaking to the Racing Post's weekly YouTube football show Different League in association with Betfred, Goater said: "It's a derby but if City show up they can win a close game.

"You need to keep calm in a game like this, but City have started to score goals in the Premier League and keep clean sheets so I feel confident of a win."

Goater feels City's defensive improvement could be key to deciding the clash.

"Aymeric Laporte has been in and out, but Ruben Dias has come in and after a few games you knew he was some player and John Stones looks like the John Stones that Pep bought in the first place.

"I know from exactly the same experience what it is like at City when you're in the team and then better players are brought in.

"You have to up your game and Stones is doing that now - he has done a fabulous job recently to the point that people are not even talking about summer signing Nathan Ake."

City have not always been as prolific in front of goal this season, but Goater believes it is too simplistic to put all of the emphasis on Sergio Aguero being sidelined through injury as the reason for their relative struggles.

"I think it was a number of things, including a reliance on Kevin De Bruyne for creativity," said Goater. "Pep was also trying to figure out the midfield and tinkered with his system, putting another defensive midfielder in alongside Rodri.

"Also I was really hoping that Gabriel Jesus would take the opportunity of knowing he had a run of games, but he didn't quite do that and I think he sacrificed himself for the team by doing a lot of work out wide when to score goals you need to be in the middle."

Despite fancying City for maximum points, Goater is of the opinion that champions Liverpool are favourites to retain their crown over City.

He added: "All the signs are there. Liverpool are consistently winning games and some of their players are slowly drifting back to fitness too when there was a time to maybe get three or four points clear of them when all the injuries kicked in.

"They played at the Etihad recently and tactically it surprised me with them playing the four quality forwards. It also looked like it caught City out in the first half.

"Tactically they are right, the recruitment has been spot on and so has the academy when you see someone like Curtis Jones slotting in easily. They are hammering good teams like Leicester and Wolves despite the injuries and the future looks really rosy.

"I take my hat off to Klopp. He is just ticking every box at the moment."

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