What a win for United against City will mean for them and the rest of the league

By now, every Premier League fan should already know that come Sunday, a clash of titans of sorts is going to take place at Old Trafford. With the stage already set, both teams are going into the game with a win in mind.

In the grand scheme of things for the Premier League, this match has a lot at stake. A certain turn of events may blow the competition wide open for any willing top team to swoop in and conquer.

There are three eventualities that could occur after the game on Sunday: Manchester United emerge victorious, Manchester City win the tie and less spectacularly, the game ends in a draw.

The six-point swing

A concept that has recently just began to make the rounds online, the "six-point swing" is used to refer to the event that is triggered by a win or a loss to a direct rival in the league. This means that while the losing team drops 3 points, the winning team gains 3.

Avoiding the negative part of this event has been identified as the reason why some coaches go to derbies with the intention to defend and come out with a draw. Come Sunday, however, both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will be spurring their sides to take the initiative and go for the win.

A swing in favour of Manchester United will mean that by gaining the 3 points and robbing City of them, the gap between the two teams will be reduced to just 5 points. Conversely, a loss to Manchester City on Sunday will mean that the lead will extend to 11 points.

Suffice to say that a win for either side will either mean that City's lead gets cut down to 5 points, or extended further to 11 points (a dream position for City going into the second half of the season). Hence, a six-point swing.

The rest of the league

A win for Manchester United against Manchester City on Sunday will blow the title race wide open, placing the other top teams like Chelsea and Liverpool on high alert.

It will show that under the right circumstances, City are indeed beatable. With the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham confident in the squads they have at the moment, best believe that they will seize any opportunity to nip at City's heels and exploit any deducible weaknesses.