Van Persie: ‘Manchester Derby will set the tone for season between the Big Two’

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It is still early days, but United striker Robin Van Persie believes that the outcome of the Manchester derby will go a long way in determining who goes home with the title at the end of the season.

‘I know this is a really important game,’ says the Holland striker, whose burgeoning partnership with Wayne Rooney will be a worry to City boss Manuel Pellegrini when he delivers his team talk.

‘I personally never think in negatives, but for both sides it is really important to stay close to the top. The team who loses could be five or six points behind after five games. It’s a lot, so we don’t want that.

 

‘Last year’s win at City laid down a big marker for the season. We knew we’d be six points clear if we won, or scratch again [level] if we lost. So it was a massive win.

 

‘The result helped us and harmed them. That’s what happened. It was a six-pointer in my opinion. It was very sweet.

 

‘Hopefully, we can win again. The games are coming really quick now and we love it. This is what we are used to, this is our rhythm, a game every three or four days.

 

‘The Champions League has started, which we really like. Sunday is a massive game. We are looking forward to it.’
The Rooney-Van Persie partnership seems to be flourishing after they combined to score three goals in a 4-2 victory over Bayern Leverkusen in midweek.

‘If you are up against that partnership in the Premier League, you have a concern,’ is the understated way that Moyes puts it.

 

‘There are some good centre-forwards in the League, but seeing Robin and Wayne up front gives defences a different dilemma. In form, they make it difficult to play against.

 

‘I can tell the two of them are working on it. We want to try to make it a partnership where people say: “My goodness, this is tough to play against.” If we can get them both scoring 20 goals this season, it will go a long way to deciding where we finish.’

 

The dutch man is also aware that they’ll need their teammates to be involved if they want to contest for trophies this term.

 

Van Persie added: ‘Hopefully, this year, we can get the wingers more goals, which is helpful for everyone. With [Marouane] Fellaini and Mike [Carrick] we should be threatening from all sides.’

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