Liverpool's Fernando Torres out with hamstring injury.
london (ap)
Manchester United's attempt to overhaul Arsenal at the top of the Premier League becomes a secondary concern this weekend when Manchester City visit for a match to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster.
With Arsenal not in action until Monday when they host Blackburn, United could take top spot with victory on Sunday.
Fans will be thinking more of earning bragging rights over their city rivals and providing an occasion suitable to mark the memory of the crash's 23 victims, who included eight United players and a former City goalkeeper.
Four days after thousands gathered at Old Trafford for a memorial service to mark the actual February 6 anniversary, the teams will line up at the same stadium in old-fashioned jerseys devoid of sponsors' names and honour a minute's silence before the match.
Revenge
But then, United's thoughts will turn to gaining revenge for a 1-0 loss at City in August.
United rallied from a poor start to the season when it won just one of its first four games and is now just two points behind Arsenal after a 1-1 draw at Tottenham last weekend.
City are coming off a 3-1 home loss to the Gunners and are seeking to use the experience of playing against a fast, counterattacking side when they come up against another in United.
''We need to learn from how we played against Arsenal last week,'' Eriksson said. ''It's going to be difficult.''
United's attack will likely be led by Wayne Rooney, who starred in England's 2-1 friendly win over Switzerland on Wednesday.
But City had Micah Richards, Richard Dunne, Vedran Corluka, Martin Petrov, Gelson Fernandes, Sun Jihai, Joe Hart, Andreas Isaksson and Kasper Schmeichel all away for midweek internationals and Eriksson is worried his team could be tired.
Arsenal's players have an extra day to recover from their international exertions ahead of their meeting with Blackburn, who are on a run of three straight draws.
The Gunners have 60 points and can bask in the fact that the first team to reach the mark has failed to win the Premier League title just once in the past five seasons. They have lost just once and have the same tally after 25 games as they did in the 2003-04 season, when they went unbeaten.
Third-place Chelsea host Liverpool on Sunday for the teams' 18th meeting in four seasons, although the Reds have not won at Stamford Bridge since before that streak - a 1-0 win in January 2004.
Liverpool's chances of breaking that run and hauling themselves back into the top four places took a hit Wednesday when star striker Fernando Torres limped off in the 23rd minute of Spain's 1-0 friendly win over France.
Manager Rafa Benitez ruled Torres out yesterday and said he could miss more than one game.
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