Premier League Preview: Manchester City v Manchester United

Manchester United's David Moyes believes his side can be a match for Manchester City

David Moyes will be aiming to restore local bragging rights by denting Manchester City's Barclays Premier League title hopes when they visit Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Victories over Olympiacos and West Ham United, the former overturning a 2-0 UEFA Champions League last-16 deficit to secure Man United's progression, will have restored a measure of confidence in Moyes' charges.

And while the United faithful will be far from satisfied by another game in which their sole aim is to hinder a rival's Premier League title aspirations, a triumph would be a feather in the cap of a manager who has experienced a testing first season in charge after taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson.

"We'll go into our next game confident and ready to get a result," said Moyes after Saturday's 2-0 win at the Boleyn Ground.

For Man City, the game carries similar significance at the start of what will likely prove a season-defining run of fixtures. Currently six points behind leaders Chelsea with three matches in hand, Manuel Pellegrini's men head to their neighbours brimming with confidence after a 5-0 drubbing of Fulham at the weekend.

But City will be aware, too, that the derby precedes trips to Arsenal and Liverpool, which sandwich a tricky home match against Southampton.

Pellegrini will not be able to call on the services of key striker Sergio Aguero, who is another week away from fitness as he continues his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury.

However, Edin Dzeko looks set to be fit after being taken ill before the Fulham game and Stevan Jovetic should also be available having returned from injury for the final eight minutes on Saturday.

"I think that this team doesn't depend just on one striker," said Pellegrini. "Maybe in the last week we had some problems with Aguero and Jovetic. Now Jovetic is coming back and I hope Aguero will be next week with the team. If they don't score there are other players that will do it."

Chief among the supporting cast is Yaya Toure, who boasts 16 Barclays Premier League goals this term following his hat-trick against Fulham.

Moyes will, therefore, be buoyed to have Rio Ferdinand available having been forced to deploy Michael Carrick at centre-back versus West Ham. Ferdinand was rested at the weekend, but United will again be without Nemanja Vidic, who serves the second of his two-game ban.

At the other end, Moyes is likely to deploy Juan Mata behind Wayne Rooney again as Robin van Persie continues to be sidelined.

City, boosted by the return of captain Vincent Kompany from a ban, head to United following four successive Barclays Premier League clean sheets and bidding for a third straight victory at the home of their local rivals in a row.

Pellegrini's men were also 4-1 winners when the sides met back in September at the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester United (from): Amos, De Gea, Lindegaard, Buttner, Evans, Evra, Ferdinand, Jones, M Keane, Rafael, Varela, Carrick, Cleverley, Fellaini, Fletcher, Giggs, Januzaj, Kagawa, Mata, Nani, Valencia, Young, Hernandez, Rooney, Welbeck.

Manchester City (from): Hart, Pantilimon, Wright, Boyata, Clichy, Demichelis, Kolarov, Kompany, Lescott, Richards, Zabaleta, Garcia, Fernandinho, Milner, Nasri, Navas, Rodwell, Silva, Toure, Dzeko, Jovetic, Negredo, Nimely.

Match Appointments

Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: S Burt, D England. Fourth Official: P Dowd.