Fernandinho expects Manchester United to suffer for the absence of Paul Pogba in this weekend’s derby against Manchester City.
The Brazilian said: “Of course, any team that loses such a good player, they are going to miss him.
“But Manchester United have good players and it doesn’t matter who is going to play in his position, they will do a good job. It will be a tough game for both teams.”
City go into the game on the back of their first defeat since April. They were beaten 2-1 by Shakhtar Donetsk in an inconsequential Champions League group match in Ukraine on Wednesday.
Fernandinho, 32, said: “The people around the club, when we start to win a lot of games, they start to say a lot of things and it’s not good. Some of us could relax and drop our levels.
“So if you have to choose a moment to lose then this would be the right one.
“Derbies are always special. We need to be 100 percent ready and focused to do our best and try to win the game.”
A win would give City an 11-point advantage over their chief rivals, but Fernandinho insists that would not finalise anything.
He said: “The Premier League is so hard and tough, you can drop points at any time. It will be a little step for us if we win this game, but nothing will be finished. There will still be a long way to go.”
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