Very different test to the game at Anfield last season.
They were embroiled in a title race whereas we were still on a real high from the new owners coming in, Kenny coming back, a new hero arriving in Suarez and most importantly we'd had some great results. The pressure was off us playing in front of our fans against arguably our biggest rivals.
This time it's at a stage when the table is only starting to take shape, a time where over recent years we already start to slip away from the top teams. This is such an important game for us if we have ambitions of sticking with United and City for a while yet. If all of a sudden after a shaky-ish start we pull out a win at Everton and a victory over United then it's laying down a real marker, and while we're still weaker than the two top teams at the moment, wouldn't it be nice for our title ambitions to not be over by the time November comes round?
United are also a better team now IMO. Young is a great signing and i've always rated him, with Nani and Rooney completing a front three of sorts, they've brought back the pace, energy and movement that they've lacked since the superb partnership of Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo. The static United side that we met last season will be a far cry from this one in my opinion, they really have looked excellent so far and i'm concerned about their ability to cause us real problems at the back.
As for us, we aren't performing at the same extremely high levels we were in last seasons run in which is to be expected really, it was a great honeymoon period for us but now it's all about scrapping it out and keeping in touch with our rivals. It's hard to predict how we'll set up and who will start, what with internationals all playing a part. I'm concerned mostly about the fitness of Suarez, as we saw just how much United shit themselves against him last season. However confidence will be up after the derby win and everyone will be right up for this as you'd expect.
I've got a feeling one way or another this will be a thrilling game. I have also got an awful gut feeling that they'll stick a few past us. Head says United will get a vital win and get breathing space on us, heart says we'll scrap it out and come out marginally on top. I hope to fuck my heart is right!