City's De Jong tells United: We're No.1 now

City are top dogs in the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s derby against second-placed Manchester United at Old Trafford and De Jong claims they will still be there on Monday morning.

The Dutch midfielder feels the balance of power is shifting away from champions United and says City proved they are catching their neighbours by beating them in the FA Cup semi-finals last season.

“Of course, everyone believes we can win,” said De Jong. “We’re going there [to Old Trafford] as No 1 and the aim is to stay No 1.

“The pressure is still the same as it was last year, but what has changed is that we’re now No 1 going into this derby.

“That brings pressure, but the pressure is always there because of how this Manchester City team is growing.

“We proved last season that we could beat them, so we don’t have anything to prove. We’ve shown our quality throughout the season. We don’t need a game against United to show how good we are.

“We’re on top of the league, so going into this game we just have to be confident and play our game as well as we have been doing.”

De Jong respects United’s achievements over their two decades under Sir Alex Ferguson and says he came to City to help bring a similar golden era to Manchester's 'other' club.

He is excited by their progress under Roberto Mancini - and the prospect of creating history with City by making them champions for the first time since 1968.

“You can’t build a history of winning trophies over 25 years like United have done just in one year,” he said.

“We are building here, step by step, but it takes time. Maybe you don’t get a lot of time when you’re spending a lot of money on players. But still you need to go step by step. That’s how it has to be.

“This side can be part of history as well, because it’s been so long since we won the title. If we can be part of the history here at City, that would be a really good thing.

“That’s the main reason why myself and a lot of the others signed for City. You have to be honest, they pay good wages and everyone can earn a good living here, but it’s not about that.

“Every players wants to win trophies and titles and we feel we can do that here.