Demichelis and City pumped for mammoth Manchester derby showdown with United as Pellegrini claims: 'We are not favourites'

Ready? Martin Demichelis stretches during training at Manchester City's training base

Martin Demichelis and Manchester City didn't appear to be feeling the weight of expectation as the Argentine and his team-mates prepared for their crucial derby clash.

And City manager Manuel Pellegrini underlined the confidence coursing City by claiming that his team ‘expect’ to win the Old Trafford derby on Tuesday night.

For the first time in the modern era, City go to Manchester United as favourites with Pellegrini’s team 12 points ahead of their neighbours with two games in hand.

Asked if it will be a unique occasion because City are expected to win at Old Trafford for the third time in a row, he said: ‘We also expect to go and win.’

He added: ‘Not because Manchester United have had a difficult season we are going to go there and win, but if we play a good game tomorrow we will have a good chance to win it.’

However, Pellegrini played down City’s tag as favourites and insisted that maintaining his club’s title challenge is more important than securing bragging rights over their neighbours.

He added: ‘We know it’s a derby, of course, but for our target we must add three points. We don’t just need to win tomorrow and lose the next game. We need to be consistent from now until the end of the season.

‘I know we must go game by game. We don’t know how many points we must add from now until the end of the season. It is important to try to win tomorrow and then after Arsenal on Saturday, we will see how many points we need.

‘That is why for our team all the games have the same importance because they have three points, but a derby has a special importance because we know the fans enjoy winning against Manchester United.

‘The players are very motivated to try and win the title. It has been a very close Premier League from the beginning of the season and until the last match it will be the same way.

‘One of the positive things of being eliminated from other competitions is that we are just focusing on the Premier League. We don’t have problem physically or mentally, we are just trying to fight for the title.