Very occasionally a strange quirk of the fixture list throws up one city against another on the same weekend. It’s an occurrence that is rarer than you may think with perhaps the most memorable example being Manchester’s 13-3 aggregate stuffing of north London back in 2011. With the season barely underway United schooled a young Arsenal side 8-2 at Old Trafford while hours earlier City showed their title credentials by walloping Spurs 5-1 away and it’s tempting to think that by the following Monday an impromptu support group was set up in some neutral café down the Seven Sisters Road where both sets of dejected fans could combine to hate on their new common enemy. In reality the conversation probably went like this –

“Yeah but we were away. At Old Trafford for fack’s sake!”

“You still let in eight geezer”

Five years on from their tramping down of north London the collective might of Manchester now face much archer rivals in the form of Merseyside and naturally enough the bulk of the attention will be focused on Monday night’s box-office clash between United and Liverpool. It’s a game with a Shakespearean back-story involving perches, silverware and animosity. It’s a game that entire books have been devoted to, both on the shelf and in the pockets of referees.

Yet two days prior to that frenetic grudge-fest – at the highly unusual time of 3pm on a Saturday afternoon – the ‘alternative north-west derby’ deserves equal merit. It could be argued too that it will be just as venomous.

Liverpool v United has taken on the feel of two bald men desperately fighting over a comb in recent times but the animosities and resentments that bubble away when Manchester City take on Everton are fresh; yet to be placed into a proper context by the supporters and players alike. Which means every challenge contains that extra flexing of muscle and every victory is celebrated on the terraces with a certain touch of vitriolic glee. It’s just that, well, nobody quite knows for sure why.

Unquestionably the supporters used to get along just fine, or at least as well as could be expected considering we’re talking about a Scouse/Manc divide. This can largely be explained by each club seeking solace in their working class roots as their red neighbours hogged the headlines and dominated proceedings at the top of English football. They were ‘proper’ football clubs with ‘proper’ fans both in the shadow of media darlings and consequently a mutual respect grew.

That all changed of course in 2008 when City were taken over by Abu Dhabi United Group and became, at a stroke, richer than God’s bookie. It was a seismic change of circumstance that fuelled Everton’s ire for two significant reasons.

Firstly, it could – and perhaps should – have been them bequeathed with untold millions as the blue half of Merseyside were reportedly on the royal family’s radar long before they approached City.

Secondly, with money to burn Mark Hughes decided to improve his defensive options in the summer of 2009 by bidding close to £25m for Joleon Lescott expressly against the Merseysider’s wishes. It became a drawn-out and bitter transfer that rankled with many, in particular Toffees boss David Moyes who accused City of having ‘no class’.

The City v Everton derby now had its very own ‘perch’ comment.

So that’s Everton’s causes for discontent. For City their grievances came in the form of annoyance at how Everton dealt with the transfer fall-out. Namely they won. A lot.

In the next eight games that followed the Lescott move Everton got the better of their newly-minted rivals six times and drawing once. That’s a record that warrants bogey team status and the sight of Tim Cahill wheeling away in celebration to punch yet another corner flag began to haunt them.

Since 2013 it is City who have enjoyed the lion’s share of victories while a sort of peace briefly broke out in April 2012 when Everton’s incredible comeback from 4-2 down to draw at Old Trafford helped keep City’s title dream alive. Sky blues were grateful. Royal blues found it hilarious. Like the old days both were united in hate for red.

Perhaps then the acrimony has settled to a healthy level of enjoying a win over the other more than a win over, say, Southampton or West Ham. But there remains acrimony nonetheless.

Which brings us to the present and, as previously stated, the Toffees boast a decent record at the Etihad – certainly in relation to most – and Ronald Koeman’s new charges will be keen to right a recent slip in form that’s seen them drift out to fifth after an impressive start to 2016/17. Their hosts will have an identical objective in mind after being wounded at Spurs just when the world began to suspect they were impenetrable.

With Kevin de Bruyne expected to feature after a brief injury lay-off and Romelu Lukaku among the goals, this would be a fascinating and engrossing match-up even without the recent bickering. Factoring it in though means it’s not just one half of Manchester and one half of Merseyside that is going to war this weekend no matter how much the media will have us believe that. It is metropolis against metropolis.