Pablo Zabaleta says Manchester City will face Manchester United on Sunday driven by the hurt of last season’s derby despair.

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The full-back admits they fell short of expectations and the standards they have set when they were convincingly beaten 4-2 by Louis van Gaal’s men in April.

As reigning champions, it was even more painful. Now they have a chance to make amends and make a statement with City topping the Premier League table and United joint second with Arsenal.

“This is the biggest game for sure in England,” said Zabaleta. “We know how important it is for the fans, for the club and also because we play against a team that is joint second in the league, two points behind. Both teams play for something important, not just pride. They have a chance to beat us and go top of the league and we have a chance to extend the gap.

“The two teams are very close now. It is a different story from eight years ago when I first came here and is fantastic for the league, the city and the fans, having two big clubs in Manchester.

“Yes, it hurt [last season]. It was a very hard defeat. You expect to play much better than that with the players we have in the team.

“We have set our standards high and we know how well we can play. After that we won [a record] 11 games in a row so we knew after that game we needed to change in the way we were playing.

“Last season was not really good for us and that derby is the game you expect to play really well because against teams like United you can’t be at 60 per cent, 50 per cent of your best form. So we need to play at 100 per cent, be very intense and try to win the game. You have to play those games with a 100 per cent attitude and passion because it means a lot for the fans.

“We don’t think about revenge. We have had the chance to win more games at Old Traffiord. I remember playing pretty well there and winning 6-1 and 3-0. Sometimes you don’t expect to lose like we did last season there. It was really hurtful for everyone, but hopefully we will try to make sure it does not happen again – and we can win.”