United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, but with a game in hand over all but Liverpool. United had won four of their five matches, while City had won all of their first four fixtures; a 4–2 victory over Arsenal had made it their best start to a season since 1961. The match was selected by Sky Sports for their televised coverage, with the fixture moved to a Sunday afternoon and a kick-off time of 13:30BST. In the week building up to the match, which was described by the BBC as "one of the most eagerly awaited derby matches in years", both Ferguson and Hughes, as well as players from both clubs, made comments about their opponents in the press. While admitting the rivalry had "gone up a notch" in the prior months, and that City had become "a bit cocky", Ferguson said that matches against Liverpool would always be "the derby game". When asked whether United could ever go into the fixture as underdogs, Ferguson responded, "not in my lifetime". Hughes stated he was "amused" by the irritation City were causing their rivals, and said that Ferguson was "sick and tired" of being asked questions by the media about Manchester City rather than his own side. Hughes, who played for United in two separate spells in the 1980s and 1990s, when the club were attempting to overthrow Liverpool, echoed a comment once made by Ferguson by saying "it would be my greatest achievement to knock United off the No.1 spot because it's a huge challenge", and that to do so they would need to beat United. Ferguson warned Tevez to expect a hostile reception from the United fans if he played, but said it did not bother him whether Tevez was involved, and was pleased that their "star player", Emmanuel Adebayor, was unavailable due to a suspension. Hughes responded by saying United were weaker as they had lost "two significant players" in Ronaldo and Tevez without replacing them. Hughes also thought United's performances early in the season had suffered due to the departures. Tevez said he believed the United fans would not boo him as he thought they did not consider him to be a traitor, and predicted City would win if they could capitalise on defensive errors. United defender Patrice Evra said he believed the fixture was "more special this season", and that it would be an "amazing