"Dear Fernando Torres, If you are moving to Chelsea please make sure you don't introduce your wifey to Terry , Sincerely Way"

All geared up for the big one? Here are a few facts and figures to help while away the derby countdown ...


Stat attack: Man United

United have won less than half the Old Trafford derbies. Their 37 wins is a 47.44 per cent success rate, with City's 15 victories giving the Blues a 19.23 per cent slice of the cake. There have been 26 draws.

The Reds' 129 goals in home derbies gives them an average over the years of 1.65 goals per game. City have scored 91, working out at 1.17. Which makes last season's 4-3 look like a veritable avalanche.

By the way, that tremendous seven-goal cliffhanger in September, 2009 - Craig Bellamy scored twice before the clocks seemed to stop, you'll doubtless recall - was a record highest derby aggregate for the fixture.

City's best return from an Old Trafford derby was the 6-1 win celebrated in 1925-26. The Reds' record 5-0 response did not come until more recently in 1994-95, when they were pipped to the title by Blackburn.

The Blues triumphed at Old Trafford as recently as February 2008, when Benjani marked his debut by scoring the second goal in a 2-1 win for Sven Goran Eriksson's side. Darius Vassell was City's other scorer.

Fri 11 Feb 2011, 11:28AM

Posted by Peter Ferguson

When Joe Mercer's side won the League in 1967-68, the teams were neck and neck at the top, but City, having been beaten 2-1 at Maine Road in September, went to Old Trafford at the end of March for a famous 3-1 victory.

The Reds, who finally surrendered their unbeaten record at Wolves last time out, have enjoyed six successive home wins and have gone 22 matches since a visiting team last took all the points at Old Trafford.

United don't just lead the Premier League table from Arsenal and City, but they are also the division's form side over the past six matches, ahead of Fulham and City at home and level with Arsenal on their travels.

Dimitar Berbatov leads the Premier League scorers with 19 goals, one ahead of Carlos Tevez, but in ten games against City, the Bulgarian has netted only once, in 2007 for Tottenham