Man Utd's Martinez ready for Haaland derby test

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez celebrates his goal against SabahFK in the Champions League [Getty Images] Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez is not taking his previous success against Erling Haaland as proof it will happen again at Old Trafford tomorrow. Despite the relative size difference, Argentina centre-back Martinez has a decent record against the prolific Manchester City man. Most recently, Martinez rammed the cruel pre-match jibes of former United stars Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes down their throats by shutting Haaland out in Michael Carrick's first game in charge last January. However, the Argentina star was also part of a United side Haaland scored a hat-trick against in October 2022 , so he is wise to take nothing for granted. "The past is gone," he said. "I have to be ready for this game because it's going to be different to the last one." The problem for United is that they have conceded twice in all three league games so far this season. City represents a significant step up in standard from their previous opponents, including Everton, who scored twice in the final 10 minutes to come from behind to claim a draw at the Hill Dickinson stadium. "Against Everton, we played to take the clean sheet and then conceded the goals, which annoys us," he said. "It's really bad, for sure, because we want to be there and want to compete, keeping the clean sheet is very important." United have not beaten City in successive Premier League home games since 2011. Their chances of ending that record have not been helped by the fact they played on Thursday, giving City two days' additional preparation time. "It is what it is," said Martinz. "We can't change it. "We want to be playing every three days, playing in all the competitions. It is what we wanted for long time and now we are ready."