Manchester City go into the game five points behind leaders Chelsea, whilst eight-points separate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side from the top of the table.
The reigning Premier League champions have been unable to win on three occasions so far this season and, whilst a meeting with Manchester United is so often billed as a title decider, the City boss believes it is too early in the season to be concerned about how the result may impact the final standings.
“[There are] 28 games to play, so a lot of points,” he said at his pre-match press conference.
“We are going to try and win the game. United knows. We are going to try and do it and afterwards we will see what happens.
“I am not thinking about the calendar and how many points ahead or down we are.
“In the time we have been together, winning three Premier Leagues, some of them we led from the beginning to the end. Another one we had to recover points. Every year is different.
“We know the quality of the contenders. We know how difficult our opponent is. We are going to travel there to do it.”
Saturday’s fixture will be United’s first game at Old Trafford since their 5-0 defeat to Liverpool.
It was a bitterly disappointing day for the Reds, but Guardiola is not going to attempt to replicate the performance and tactics employed by Jurgen Klopp’s men.
The City boss acknowledged his players are suited to a different style of play and says it is better for his team to stick to their usual principles.
“We cannot play like Liverpool,” he added. “Football is not copy and paste.
“We cannot play like that because we have different players and different ways to play. If you have seen the Premier League for the last five years you will know we play differently.
“They won 5-0. Are we going to do the same as they do? That would not be wise.
“We are going to try and do our game as a team because we have different players with different qualities.
“Maybe right now, if United played Liverpool they would play a different way and it maybe wouldn’t be the same result.
“Every game is different. The manager learns from the previous game, what works and didn’t work and what you have to do fix it. That is normal.”
