Raheem Sterling has revealed that 'nothing changes' for Man City when they face Manchester United on Wednesday and that the main tactic will continue to be to control the ball in order to control the game.
It's set to be one of the most important Manchester derbies in years and is likely to be the deciding factor in the Premier League title race.
City are currently two points behind Liverpool but the trip to Old Trafford is their game in hand, so a victory would put City on top by a point, with both teams having played the same number of games and with three to go.
Anything less than a win, in contrast, will give the advantage to Liverpool going into the last few week of the season.
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It's a massive game and Sterling has revealed how City will approach the clash.
"A game like that, a stadium like that, it’s all about if you want the ball, if you can be in control of the game," the 24-year-old said.
"I think he’s [Pep] always wanted that, if we’re away nothing changes, it’s always to have the ball and control. It will be a massive game tomorrow with their fans as well, that I know will be loud and raring.
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"We’ve got to try at times when it is difficult to get the tempo back to how we want to play, and I think that’s a massive factor tomorrow.”
United are enduring a horrid run of form at the moment, picking up just one win from their last fives game, culminating at 4-0 slaughtering by Everton on Sunday.
Yet Sterling remains cautious of the talent they posses. He said: "We know the players that they have within the team that can harm you at any moment.
"They’ve gone through a slight blip, but guarantee tomorrow they’re up and running ready to go, chasing us down.
"It’ll always be a massive game at Old Trafford, but we know we’ve got to treat it as any other game throughout the whole season, like we have been doing, nothing changes."
Despite the magnitude of game, which could define City's entire season, Sterling insists the players are taking it as if it was any other game.
"People keep asking is it really just another game, but it is," he said.
"If someone had said at the start of the season that with four games to go, if you win those four you win the league; to be in this position now, to know you’re in control it’s a great feeling, but we can’t overthink it.
"We’ve got to go home and relax, if you like watching Netflix watch that, chill out and when tomorrow comes that’s when we’ll be up and running and ready to go."
