Manchester United must nullify Sterling and De Bruyne, says Rooney
Wayne Rooney has stressed Manchester United must nullify the threat of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling if they are to get a good result in Sunday's Premier League derby with Manchester City.
Manuel Pellegrini's men will have to make do without the services of David Silva and Sergio Aguero due to injury, but Rooney feels they still have plenty of quality up front.
"Nowadays the top teams have such good squads that they can cope with injuries," the striker told United's official matchday programme.
"The players they brought in cost over £100million in De Bruyne and Sterling, so they are two fantastic young players and we have to nullify their threats and take advantage of their flaws.
"Raheem is a fantastic player and a great lad as well, but he is still a young lad and still has a lot to learn. The good thing about Raheem is that he wants to learn.
"He has started his career at City really well, but hopefully we can slow him down a bit on Sunday and come out on top."
United will leapfrog City in the Premier League table with a win at Old Trafford and Rooney is determined to bag the full three points.
"Winning is top of our agenda, but you can't say whichever team wins will go on to win the title.
"There is a lot of local pride, we want to win and it's important that we go into the game confident. If we play the way we know we can, then we can certainly take the three points."
Wayne Rooney has stressed Manchester United must nullify the threat of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling if they are to get a good result in Sunday's Premier League derby with Manchester City.
Manuel Pellegrini's men will have to make do without the services of David Silva and Sergio Aguero due to injury, but Rooney feels they still have plenty of quality up front.
"Nowadays the top teams have such good squads that they can cope with injuries," the striker told United's official matchday programme.
"The players they brought in cost over £100million in De Bruyne and Sterling, so they are two fantastic young players and we have to nullify their threats and take advantage of their flaws.
"Raheem is a fantastic player and a great lad as well, but he is still a young lad and still has a lot to learn. The good thing about Raheem is that he wants to learn.
"He has started his career at City really well, but hopefully we can slow him down a bit on Sunday and come out on top."
United will leapfrog City in the Premier League table with a win at Old Trafford and Rooney is determined to bag the full three points.
"Winning is top of our agenda, but you can't say whichever team wins will go on to win the title.
"There is a lot of local pride, we want to win and it's important that we go into the game confident. If we play the way we know we can, then we can certainly take the three points."
