Manchester City welcome Manchester United to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday for the 179th edition of the Manchester derby as both sides look to build on midweek wins, agencies report.
The matches continue to come thick and fast for Man City as they gear up for a festive period in which the quality and depth of their squad will be tested to the limit.
It is a challenging run of fixtures at the most difficult stage of the season, and with City having already dropped 13 points this season - only three fewer than the whole of last term and one fewer than their 100-point campaign - those opponents will fancy their chances of further denting the champions' title defence.
In general, though, City's record at the Etihad is exemplary, with 23 wins and only one defeat from their 26 home outings across all competitions in 2019.
In the Premier League alone they have won 24 of their last 27 home games, scoring 81 goals in that time, although they have already dropped more points in front of their fans this season than they did throughout the whole of 2018-19.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side have won just one of their last 11 away league outings stretching back to February, losing six of those including defeats at Everton, West Ham United, Newcastle United and Bournemouth, as well as draws at Huddersfield Town, Southampton and Sheffield United.
The latter of those was their most recent away outing in the Premier League, and even then it took a seven-minute purple patch, during which the Red Devils scored three times, to paper over the cracks of another dismal performance.
The story does not improve much in all competitions either with only three wins in their last 17 on the road, including a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Kazakhstani minnows Astana in their most recent such outing.
Unsurprisingly given such rotten form, clean sheets have also been difficult to come by, with their last away Premier League shutout coming in February - a run of 12 matches in which they have been unable to prevent the opposition from scoring.
Remarkably, United have not won back-to-back league matches for more than nine months now, so to do so against two of their big-six rivals in the space of three days would be a major step towards some much-needed consistency.
The Red Devils actually have a good record against those 'big six' despite their recent struggles, avoiding defeat in each of their last five such games, including becoming the only team to take points off Liverpool this season.
The champions are still without all-time record goalscorer Sergio Aguero due to a thigh problem, with the Argentine hoping to return for next Sunday's clash against Arsenal.
Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane remain long-term absentees who are unlikely to feature before February, but Oleksandr Zinchenko could be in contention to return to the squad following knee surgery in October.
Guardiola has Ilkay Gundogan back available after suspension, although the midfield trio of Rodri, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne shone in midweek and will hope to retain their places.
Such a busy December makes for peak rotation season at City and there could be changes on Saturday, although Guardiola does also have next week's Champions League game against Dinamo Zagreb in which to rest players with his side already through.
Solskjaer must be envious of Man City's potential for changes given his own injury concerns, which have grown courtesy of Anthony Martial's absence.
The French forward missed the win over Spurs due to a "slight injury" and is considered a major doubt for this match too, leaving the visitors with a decision to make over whether to start youngster Mason Greenwood against the champions.
The in-form Rashford is a certainty to start following his brace against Spurs, leaving him already just one goal short of his season-best for a Premier League campaign.
Andreas Pereira provides another potential option should Solskjaer want more cover in midfield, while Nemanja Matic could return to the fold for the first time since October having only narrowly missed out in midweek.
Paul Pogba remains a major doubt with his ongoing ankle troubles while Marcos Rojo is another outside possibility to feature, but Eric Bailly, Diogo Dalot and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are all sidelined until the latter stages of the month at the earliest.