Head-to-head: Who edges each position in the Man City v Man Utd derby?

City are currently second in the league just one point behind first-placed Arsenal, while United are just a single point away from the top four.

The Manchester derby is one of the biggest matches on the Premier League calendar, and while City have dominated in recent years, United have slowly begun to close the gap in quality between the two sides.

Of course, winning the league four times in the last five years means the City squad is difficult to get close to, but United finally appear to be on a path back towards the top under Erik ten Hag.

Here, the two sides this season are compared by position and selections are backed up using data from the official Premier League website, ahead of the derby on Sunday.

Spoiler - it's quite City-heavy.

Goalkeepers

Both Ederson and David de Gea have drawn criticism from sections of supporters this season. 

The former is far better with his feet, while the latter is a better shot stopper, as shown through the statistics: Ederson has completed 89.64% of his passes compared to de Gea's 55.26%, whereas the Brazilian has saved just 53.85% of the hots he has faced, lower than the 69.23% of his Spanish counterpart.

Due to having a better control of his area (making more high claims and sweeper actions), and more clean sheets, Ederson comes out on top in this selection.

Defence

Right-back is the area where United arguably come out on top with Diogo Dalot having a fine start to the season and Kyle Walker struggling for City.

Dalot comes out on top in almost every metric, with more blocks, interceptions and tackles, while also completing more crosses (11 compared to Walkers' four), meaning he edges into the side.

At left-back, Tyrell Malacia has made a positive start to life at United, but doesn't come close to Joao Cancelo.

The City star has provided more successful tackles and interceptions while also being much further ahead with his passing and attacking statistics, completing 15 more crosses.

At the heart of defence, Lisandro Martinez has so far proved his doubters wrong, while John Stones remains one of City's most reliable performers.

Defensively, Stones surprisingly performs quite low in most attributes, but that could be due to how his side play, rarely letting the opposition have the ball. Passing-wise, he edges ahead of the Argentinan and it's hard to ignore how well he has played for the champions this season.

There is a similar comparison between Ruben Dias and Raphael Varane, with Varane leading in defensive actions but his counterpart far ahead with his passing play.

While they have both been key for their respective sides, it's hard to look past Dias.

Midfield

This is where City's quality starts to show and begin to edge ahead of their rivals.

Casemiro is a fantastic addition for the Red Devils, but Rodri has been one of the best defensive midfielders for City in the league for some time now, and doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

He has completed 647 passes - the most in the league - and has shown he can break up play nicely when needed, with seven interceptions, six tackles and eight clearences. Unfortunatley for Casemiro, he needs more time in the league to seriously challenge the Spaniard.

The inclusion of Kevin de Bruyne speaks for itself, with the Belgian recording six assists already, the most in the league.

De Bruyne and Bruno Fernandes have long been compared, but the City playmaker has shown last year and this season that he is a cut above the rest.

The final midfield spot is where it gets interesting, with a tough choice between Ilkay Gundogan and Christian Eriksen.

Both have featured in every league game this season, with Gundogan firing from the start and Eriksen taking some time to get up to speed.

The German midfielder is currently ahead of the Dane, with more passes (342 to 298) and a better completion rate (89.77% to 79.19%), and has created two more big chances while also doing more defensively.

For this reason he is included over Eriksen, although if the latter continues the form he is showing then things could change.

Attack

Both sides play failry fluid front lines, with players opperating on different flanks depending on the game, but the left wing spot will be between Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho.

They have both netted twice this season, but Foden has two assists compared to Sancho having none.

City's wideman also has more big chances created (two to zero), as well as more shots on target (five to three).

Bernardo Silva has starred for City with two goals and three assists, while new United signing Antony has only featured once and Anthony Elanga has been limited to three starts, making his selection is straightforward.

Finally, there can be little debate about the inclusion of Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian has netted 11 times already, and while Marcus Rashford has started to perform, it's not close to the levels of Haaland.

Given time, Cristiano Ronaldo could easily come back into consideration, but his issues at the start of the campaign have hampered his chances of selection.

Combined XI: Ederson, Dalot, Stones, Dias, Cancelo, Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva, Haaland, Foden.