Sunday marks a historical day in Manchester football history as 20,000 fans flock to Old Trafford to watch Manchester United Women play at the historic stadium for the first time.
Five miles away, shortly before United's big clash with Everton finishes, Manchester City Women were due to be kicking off at the Academy Stadium hoping to continue their brilliant form as both sides battle for the final Champions League spot in the Women's Super League.
City's match was postponed last night because of a Covid outbreak in the Birmingham squad. But with the WSL getting more attention than usual due to the Premier League's international break, the message from both managers is intriguingly the same - try to block it all out and 'control the controllables.'
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United have been marketing their fixture for months, using the men's international break as an opportunity to give the women's team their most high-profile fixture since reforming in 2018. They played at Old Trafford last season, but behind closed doors due to Covid restrictions, as they beat West Ham 2-0.
That occasion was diluted not only by the lack of fans, but the shameful lack of awareness by the FA to give the fixture a big TV slot. Only sustained criticism in the build-up, including from then-manager Casey Stoney, led to a late decision to show the game on BT Sport Extra 1, behind the red button rather than online.
Things have changed this year, though. United were keen to give the women's side proper Old Trafford exposure with a full marketing campaign, while the new broadcast deal with BBC Sport and Sky Sports has seen United and the rest of the WSL given comparable coverage as their male counterparts. United have been shown live on terrestrial TV regularly, and the increased attention has seen around 20,000 tickets sold for this momentous fixture.
Befitting of a game of this nature, on a weekend without men's domestic football, United will be top billing on Sky Sports Main Event on Sunday lunchtime. Quite right too, as Marc Skinner's side are chasing their best-ever finish and potentially breaking into the 'Big Three' of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City.
United are level with City in third but ahead on goal difference, six points behind Chelsea - who they face on the final day. To qualify for the Champions League, just four years after reforming, they just need to match City's results in the final five games and ensure their current goal difference advantage of two is maintained.
Despite the prospect of what could be on offer at the end of the season, Skinner wants to keep feet on the ground and minds focussed - even with the excitement of a club-record crowd this weekend.
"It is a special stadium, without a doubt," Skinner said.
"It'll be exciting to play in this wonderful stadium in front of our home fans. Hopefully it's the right effect where it spurs us on to exact every bit of energy from our players. I want to put on a performance on Sunday that shows everybody that we can, in the future, fill this stadium for our women's team as well as our men's team."
That is an admirable ambition - although it differs from former manager Stoney who said after the last Old Trafford game that the main target should be increasing crowds on a regular basis at Leigh Sports Village.
In terms of the game, Skinner touched upon the external factors and wider context of the run-in for third place against City.
"How they react is theirs to own," he said. "We have to control our 'controllables' and play to our principles and adapt to the game but it's going to be special. It just feels like the stadium has this wonderful history, and you can feel it, you can absorb it."
That control line is exactly what his City counterpart Gareth Taylor regularly preaches, as the Blues are the form team in this chase for a Champions League spot.
After a nightmare start to the season with 14 players out injured, big defeats to Chelsea, a derby loss to United and just five wins from their first 14 games, City have been almost unstoppable since November. They have won seven in a row in all competitions and have lost just one in 17 - a narrow reverse at Chelsea. That includes a Continental Cup final win and two big derby wins in the space of two weeks. What seemed like a futile task to finish third now is within grasp.
City have a favourable run-in compared to United, and will be hoping the occasion gets to the Reds at Old Trafford.
“We take one game at a time, and try not to look too far ahead or at what's happening elsewhere," Taylor said this week.
“We need to focus on what we can affect and the thing we can affect is the next session and match. It's as simple as that. We try to guide the players in that respect rather than trying to control the uncontrollables.”
With both managers on the same page, both sides with an equal chance of finishing third, and both enjoying ever-increasing support from the people of Manchester, it feels like women's football in the city is at the strongest it has ever been.
When 31,000 fans watched the first derby at the Etihad in 2019, United were playing their first WSL derby. Now, as they play their first game at Old Trafford with fans, they have closed the gap to City and are undeniably equals this season as one of the top four women's sides in the country.
Both sides can only grow from here, on and off the pitch.
