Next two games could be crucial

The City kit boss and former Latics star writes every week for Chron Sport

There’s the small matter of a Manchester derby at Old Trafford tonight.

It promises to be an absolute cracker – all the ingredients are there.

To be honest I would probably have preferred to have been playing United two or three weeks ago. This last week has seen them pick up two great victories against Olympiacos and West Ham, and their confidence will have been lifted.

They’ll miss Robin van Persie, but of course that will be countered by City’s loss of Sergio Aguero.

These next two fixtures for City are so vitally important. After the derby there’s the trip to Arsenal at the weekend, so six points from those two games will put us in a very strong position ahead of the final push for the title.

The situation at the top of the Premier League seems to change week by week, and that’s great for football in general.

Derby days are always special for everyone involved. My biggest derby games during my playing days came when I was at Huddersfield.

I can remember playing Leeds in the First Division in the early 1970s and those games were always in front of packed houses at Leeds Road and Elland Road. There’s nothing like it.

For me to play against the likes of Billy Bremner, Allan Clarke, Johnny Giles and Peter Lorimer was just brilliant.

Leeds were at the height of their power back then, but I remember we beat them 2-1 once at Leeds Road. Those were special days.