Man Utd captain Wayne Rooney wary of Man City despite Aguero and Silva missing derby clash

Now a Manchester derby veteran, Wayne Rooney believes City are just as dangerous as ever

STRIKER Wayne Rooney believes Manchester City still have the players to hurt rivals United despite the absence of David Silva and Sergio Aguero.

 

With home advantage and a shorter injury list than their rivals, United go into the 170th Manchester derby as slight favourites.

Aguero has played a key part in City's recent run of six wins from their last eight derbies.

The Argentinian has scored six goals in his last five matches against Manchester United, but on Sunday Wilfried Bony is expected to lead the line for the visitors because Aguero has a hamstring injury.

 

Bony has only scored twice this season, but in Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, City have two deadly players who United will have to keep a close eye on, according to Rooney.

"Nowadays the top teams have such good squads that they can cope with injuries," the United striker told United Review.

"The players they brought in cost over £100million in De Bruyne and Sterling, so they are two fantastic young players and we have to nullify their threats and take advantage of their flaws.

 

Manchester City will be without two of their best players, Sergio Aguero and David Silva

"Raheem is a fantastic player and a great lad as well, but he is still a young lad and still has a lot to learn. The good thing about Raheem is that he wants to learn.

"He has started his career at City really well but hopefully we can slow him down a bit on Sunday and come out on top."

Having scored a record 11 goals in this fixture, Rooney's performance on Sunday could be decisive too.

 

Pellegrini's team selection will be eagerly anticipated as his refusal to confirm whether captain Vincent Kompany will feature has dominated the derby build-up from a City perspective.

Kompany has been named on the bench for the two City games played since Pellegrini voiced displeasure at his appearance for Belgium during the recent international break. The defender has been confirmed as fully fit but Pellegrini has given no guarantees the 29-year-old will return.