Everton defender Sylvain Distin is hoping to capitalise on any Manchester United psychological damage created by Manchester City.
Frenchman hoping to benefit from United's derby defeat
Everton defender Sylvain Distin is hoping to capitalise on any Manchester United psychological damage created by Manchester City after the 6-1 annihilation of their fierce rivals last Sunday.
Distin knows a lot about the Manchester derby after playing for City for five years, making 178 appearances as an important member of the defence.
The 33-year-old hopes United's defeat is still in their mind as they face the Toffees at Goodison Park this Saturday and is keen for his side to take advantage of any weaknesses.
"They must have a lot of questions in their mind that's for sure, When you lose a game like that, especially a derby 6-1, and City make history it must be one of the worst days for United's players and staff in a long time," Distin said to the
Liverpool Echo.
"So definitely they're going to doubt and it's up to us to try and make sure they doubt right from the start."
The Frenchman knows that it will not be easy and he expects that Sir Alex Ferguson will have used last weekend's defeat to fire up his men, adding: "Knowing Alex Ferguson, United will come here having had a tough time.
"They will want to prove it was a one-off mistake, but it'll be up to us to make them doubt right from the beginning and then we'll have a chance.
"We have a decent record against them at Goodison. Yes we lost against Chelsea but we showed some character and we'll start the game quite positive. We have to remember that maybe we didn't start the season too well."
Everton boss David Moyes agrees with the ex-Portsmouth man about the problems of facing a wounded United team.
"You would normally think great - they can't be coming with great confidence and think they have got to be damaged by it but you are talking about Manchester United, and Sir Alex Ferguson," Moyes said.
"We understand totally that they will be desperate to get back to winning ways but we have to try and do our bit to make sure that doesn't happen.
"We had a really good game against them last year and it ended up 3-3, we've tried to keep up with the Joneses as much as we can and we'll try and do it as much as we can to them."
