Roberto Mancini does not want derby distractions

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Roberto Mancini does not want derby distractions

Roberto Mancini has warned his Manchester City players they must not let thoughts of Sunday's highly-anticipated Premier League derby detract them from Tuesday's Champions League game against Villarreal.

City entertain the Yellow Submarines in need of three points to kick-start their Group A campaign off the back of a home draw against Napoli and defeat to Bayern Munich in Germany.

A 4-1 rout over Aston Villa at the weekend took the Premier League big-spenders over Manchester United at the top of the domestic pile and talk of next Sunday's cross-city dust-up is sure to reach fever pitch before the big day.

Sir Alex Ferguson sprung a surprise when naming a defensive-looking team to shackle bitter rivals Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday and now there is genuine hope among seasoned City supporters that Mancini's men could pull off a first win at Old Trafford since 2008. Anyone following the Premier League betting will be keeping a close eye on things in the build up to the game.

A win would also give weight to the growing theory that City are finally ready to usurp their local rivals.

However, Mancini says talk of an upset against United is premature and insists his main focus is getting lift-off in Europe's premier club competition.

The Italian said: "After Villarreal, we have four days to recover and to prepare for the derby. We don't really need to prepare for the game with United because we know they are a top team, and I don't think we need to prepare any differently. Beating Villarreal is our first target. Then we can think about the other games."

The group stage reaches its halfway point on Tuesday and Wednesday with Napoli welcoming Bayern Munich in a meeting of two of Europe's in-form teams and Mancini says City cannot afford to be cut adrift, something the Champions League betting reflects.

He added: "We are playing in the Champions League for the first time and we can't think that we will win every game. We know we need more experience, but we still have four games left and, if we beat Villarreal, we can still get first place in the group. If not, we can fight for the second place."