Sagna: 'We want to dictate the game'
Sagna wants City to take control of the Manchester Derby
Manchester City fullback Bacary Sagna has proclaimed that his team want to learn from the mistakes of last season and dictate tomorrow's Manchester Derby.
The French international has declared himself fit after missing City's last three matches, telling City TV: "I feel good... I am looking forward to Saturday...
"I would say it is one big test of many that we are going to have this season...
"They also have new players and have had a great start, the same as us, but we want to stay on top from now until the end (of the season).
"We'll learn from last year and are going to try to dictate the game."
Despite the fact that City will be on hostile ground at Old Trafford, midfielder David Silva insists that they want nothing less than a win.
The Citizens have won three and drawn one of their last five top-flight meetings with their local rivals.
A BEAUTIFUL GAME
"It's going to be a very beautiful game. The two teams arrive at this game having had good results and after making wholesale changes in every sense," Silva told Spanish radio station Cadena COPE.
"We've started the season very well and it should be a great game.
"But we won't be playing for a draw.
"We will go out to win the match.
"It's a ground where, in the last few years, things have gone okay for us.
"We know they are very difficult rivals - but we won't settle for a draw."
With City undergoing a change in footballing philosophy ahead of Pep Guardiola's first Manchester Derby, fullback Pablo Zabaleta believes the onus is on the senior players to help him transpose his signature style to the Premier League.
He told the Daily Star: "Pep Guardiola is one of the greatest managers and we are so lucky to have him at Manchester City.
"For him it's a new experience in the Premier League, a different league, and so I think the players will need to try and help him.
"Especially those of us who have been here a long time and know the Premier League very well...
"His style of play is maybe a bit different to what we've done in the past."
Much of the narrative surrounding the season's first Manchester Derby has centred on the Premier League's first experience of the often fractious rivalry between Guardiola and Manchester United's very own new manager, Jose Mourinho.
But it's not just the media, pundits and fans who are buying into the hype.
"I've played in derby games in Germany but this should be a great match and one I'm really looking forward to - especially because Pep Guardiola is taking on Jose Mourinho," fit-again attacker Leroy Sane told Manchester City's official website.
"It should be a special game and we can sense the expectation all around the city from our supporters."
CHEEKY MESSAGE
Manchester United's star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has added to the buzz surrounding the fixture by sending Manchester City's new No. 1 Claudio Bravo a cheeky message.
The Swede is featured in a video clip packing a parcel of training gear which he addressed to Bravo at City's Etihad Stadium.
With it was the message: "Welcome to Manchester!
"Here's some training gear, you're gonna need it. See you on Saturday." - Wire Services.
FUN FACT
5 Only five players have crossed the Manchester divide and played for both City and United in the Premier League era - Andy Cole, Andrei Kanchelskis, Peter Schmeichel, Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tevez.
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