Ben Wilkinson says the Under-18s are excited to face Premier League North leaders Manchester United and are determined to go on the attack.

We welcome United to the City Football Academy on Saturday for the derby, which kicks off at 11.30 (UK), live on CITY+ this Saturday.

United are currently unbeaten in the Premier League North, 13 points clear of City in second place, although we have two games in hand.

Our trip to Carrington earlier in the season saw us narrowly beaten 1-0 and Wilkinson said it was a tight game that could have gone either way.

“It will be a big test, they’ve had an outstanding season,” the under-18s boss said. “Their record in the league shows that.

“We’re at that time of year where every game seems to be a big one. We’re looking forward to it and hopefully we can get a result and a performance that we’ll all be really pleased with.

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“I thought the result could have gone either way or a draw would have been a fairer outcome in the game.

“We didn’t do a lot wrong in that game and the difference this time is there’s a big onus on us to go and win the game.

“We’ve just go to tweak a few things to make us a little bit more positive, a bit more front foot, a bit more calculated risk is probably emphasis we’ve spoken about today.”

Victory would give momentum to our challenge as well as landing an early blow ahead of the two sides meeting in the Under-18 Premier League Cup final.

Midfielder Divine Mukasa says it’s important to put pressure on United and is determined to keep pushing for silverware.

“It’s massive,” he said. “This game determines whether we can still go on to win the league so it’s important that we break up their momentum.

“I’m excited, especially as we’re playing United in the under-18s cup final.

“Hopefully we can still win the league but if we can’t, at least we can get that trophy off them.”

Watch all of the action unfold live on CITY+ via mancity.com and the official app.

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