Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 6y

Raheem Sterling: Manchester derby won't decide Premier League title race

Raheem Sterling doesn't want to give Manchester United any confidence that they can overhaul Manchester City's lead when they meet for Sunday's crucial Manchester derby.

Pep Guardiola's side go to Old Trafford eight points clear of their rivals at the top of the table having won their last 13 matches in the Premier League.

United, meanwhile, are unbeaten at home in their last 40 matches in all competitions and Sterling expects the two sides to be battling it out for the title until the end of the season.

"It's a massive game," he told ESPN FC. "Two teams competing on all fronts, two teams that are local, two teams that will be pushing each other to the death in the Premier League.

"It's going to be a game that really shows who is really up for it. I'm not going to say it will decide the season but it will give the other one a bit of confidence and we're going to try to be the team on the day to make it count."

The game has been viewed by many as pivotal to the title race. A win for City would see them move 11 points clear at the top but a victory is seen as more important for Jose Mourinho's side, who need to cut City's lead.

However, Sterling says it's still too early to write off the chasing pack of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham particularly with all the clubs entering a busy period of seven Premier League games in the next three weeks.

"It's the Premier League -- anything can happen in this league; you've seen it probably more times than I have," he added.

"Things can change just like that so you can never rule anyone out. At the moment [United] are playing really well, scoring some good goals and they've got amazing players -- any of their players can score goals, they've got top, top ability."

City's lead at the top would be considerably slimmer were it not for the intervention of Sterling's goals.

The England international has already hit a personal best 13 goals this season and has secured crucial wins with late goals against Bournemouth, Huddersfield Town and Southampton.

Those strikes were tough blows to United's hope of cutting the gap at the top and while Sterling, 22, knows some of the United players, he says he's not one to rub it in.

He said: "I probably played against Paul when I was younger. When I was at Liverpool, he was at United. Jesse [Lingard] with England, Marcus [Rashford] -- yeah [I know] a few of them actually. I know a few of them and they're all good lads to be fair, the England ones. They're all quiet, friendly people.

"No I haven't tried to rub [salt] in their wounds -- I'm not that sort of person. But when we go away with the England camp we'll speak about how the last few months have gone at each other's clubs and keep on terms like that."

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