If you have anything planned for next Sunday lunchtime then cancel it now. Mothers should be let down gently, lovers should be bought flowers days in advance and amateur football sides should be advised to cancel fixtures - for anyone who even vaguely likes football should be sitting down (or standing up in a public house) to watch the Manchester derby.
This is not just any Manchester derby, but the kind of Manchester derby so sexy it deserves to be introduced by the Marks & Spencer voiceover lady.
We have a Manchester United team who have scored ten goals in their last three games, fresh from swatting away an in-form Tottenham side like a troublesome flea. They are blessed with a player in the form of his life, revelling in being the main man for club and country. Whether United fan or neutral, nobody can resist an in-form Wayne Rooney. He plays Premier League football the way we all believe we would play if given the chance - like every game could possibly be his last.
Against Arsenal and then against Tottenham, United went behind to teams full of confidence but were not rocked. Simply speaking, they have looked like champions. Last season they had the air of a team doing just enough - and these were games they may have lost or drawn - but Sir Alex knows that there will be no such thing as 'just enough' this season.
They were helped at White Hart Lane by a Spurs side that looked overawed by their status as potential winners, with Aaron Lennon looking like the pre-'Arry Aaron Lennon, Wilson Palacios adopting the 'headless chicken' role and Redknapp sticking with the 'hit Crouch with the diagonal ball' plan against ten men who should have been run ragged with quick passing.
But United were excellent, with even Dimitar Berbatov playing with a half-smile to a soundtrack of boos, safe in the knowledge that he was playing for much the better side.
And now they face City, who notched a fourth win from four with a win over Arsenal that suggested that Mark Hughes might not be the weakest link at a club with strong ambitions. His tactics against the Gunners were terribly sensible and could have been lifted directly from Sir Alex's great big book of pragmatism.
Hughes matched Arsenal for formation - bringing in Nigel de Jong to buddy up with Gareth Barry, the man previously lumbered with the massive workload of a one-man defensive job. They were happy to surrender possession and ran out 4-2 thanks to a combination of the Gunners' usual routine of toothless tippy-tappy football and their own speed and accuracy on the counter-attack.
Emmanuel Adebayor has robbed his manager of the flattering headlines that should be heralding the arrival of a genuine top-four contender, though Hughes will be given little credit even if City run out Premier League champions with a winning margin deep into double figures.
A clash between two in-form clubs would ordinarily whet the appetite but add in local rivalry, the Carlos Tevez transfer, the Carlos Tevez poster and Rio Ferdinand's 'this town ain't big enough for the both of us' posturing, and we're almost wishing the week away. And remember, City will have no midweek Champions League exertions between now and Old Trafford on Sunday.
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