Lee Carsley’s Blues are unbeaten so far this season after comprehensive victories over Everton and Liverpool and draws with West Brom and Blackburn.
Hardy believes the young Blues should look to replicate the showing of Pep Guardiola’s team at Old Trafford if they are to emerge victors over their rivals in this weekend’s game at the Academy Stadium.
“We want to do what the first team did by getting at them as quickly as possible,” said Hardy.
“If we can get an early goal then that should set us up and even though it might not be like the Liverpool game, that early advantage is always a good thing.”
The 17-year-old does acknowledge the quality of the opposition and has promised fans the match will be an exciting glimpse into the future of football in Manchester.
He said: “Usually teams are quite defensive against us. Blackburn last weekend stood off us quite a lot and it was more about us trying to break them down.
“I do think this United team will try and get at us though because it’s a derby and their results have shown they’re a good side so it should be a really good game.”
“The derby is always a really important game and with both of us fighting to win the league, fans can expect us all to be working as hard as possible in front of what is, hopefully, a big crowd.”
City v United in the U18 Premier League will kick-off at 12pm on Saturday 17 September in the Academy Stadium. Read here for more information on how you can support City’s future stars.
