Manchester City and Manchester United go head to head at the Etihad Stadium in an eagerly anticipated encounter for the FA Cup third round on Sunday.

The North West rivals meet for the first time since Man City's crushing 6-1 defeat of the Red Devils, with a place in the next round of the coveted competition at stake.

The hosts have been dealt a blow after losing brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure to the African Cup of Nations, while Mario Balotelli is out of contention due to an ankle injury.

Roberto Mancini will also be unable to call upon midfielder Gareth Barry due to suspension after picking up a red card in the side's 3-0 win over Liverpool on Tuesday. Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri could make an appearance after overcoming their problems, but Owen Hargreaves is expected to be excluded.

Sir Alex Ferguson has had a well-documented struggle with injuries throughout his team this season. Red Devil striker Wayne Rooney is expected to start after he was substituted early in United's 3-0 defeat to Newcastle United on Wednesday. Ji-Sung Park is also likely to enter the fold alongside Anderson, Michael Carrick and Nani across the midfield.

The Premier League champions have suffered two consecutive defeats in the league while Man City stumbled with two draws before defeating Liverpool on home turf this week. Results show that this will be a tight affair between the rivals.

Current form:

Manchester City: LWWDLW
Manchester United: WWWWLL

Possible lineups:

Manchester City: Hart; Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; Milner, Nasri, De Jong, Silva; Aguero, Dzeko

Manchester United: Lindegaard; Rafael, Ferdinand, Jones, Evra; Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Valencia; Rooney

Sports Mole says: 2-1