The Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has admitted that the match against Manchester City during the weekend will be an extremely crucial one in the course of the title race. Manchester United will be coming up against their arch rivals Manchester City against whom they suffered a 6-1 defeat at this stage last season. This time around, they come into the match with the opportunity to extend their lead to 6 points ahead of City, which will be a major boost ahead of the Christmas fixture list. United come into the match on the back of a good run of form, but Rooney has said that the players need to be completely focused in order to achieve the right result.
Rooney has said that people should not forget how Chelsea were top of the table after just nine matches and having a six-point advantage over United at the top of the table. However, they have now fallen 10 points behind the Manchester club. Such a situation could happen to anyone if players start to relax and take things easy. Rooney has an excellent record of scoring in the Manchester derby and he will be looking to continue the same on Sunday as well. He has been criticised recently for not scoring as many goals as the star man Robin van Persie.
“It looks like it is starting to go that way but this is a crazy league and anything can happen. It’s a massive game on Sunday and it was nice to get the win at Reading – we can go into the game knowing we are three points above City. It gives us that extra belief and confidence to go there and try and get the three points,” said Wayne Rooney. United opened the six-point advantage following their 4-3 win over Reading.