Judgement Day then. Or so you'd believe going by the derby build-up. Whatever today's result, expect the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to appear at the final whistle ...

The direct confrontation between the two managers, and the maturing style of Mark Hughes in particular, has captured the imagination of Fleet Street's Finest (no, not you Piers).

Henry Winter devotes his excellent Telegraph column to an update on Hughes' standing in the Premier League order, and the wry humour that is becoming more apparent this season.

After two leading managers have reportedly had a pop, Winter writes: "This was the week when Hughes truly arrived as a major force in the nation’s dug-outs.

"Hughes takes the criticism as a compliment, as confirmation that City have gate-crashed the party in the Premier League penthouse. Budge up, Sir Alex. Pass the canapés, Arsene.

"Lifted to the top by his own talent and a fistful of petro-dollars, Hughes knows he must prove himself in such elevated company. It is a sign of his confidence, of how at ease Hughes feels in such challenging circles, that his humour now bubbles to the surface.

"If the Welshman ever tires of management, he can hit the stand-up circuit. Judging by his public utterances on the eve of today’s derby, the man they call 'Sparky' has become the king of the wry aside."

He always did have a neat line in humour, H, just maybe not the stage or the audience. It was Sparky, don't forget, who originally dubbed Sir Alex's vocal dressing-room style "the hairdryer".
  
Winter's tale continues: "The pressure and focus is on Hughes. He knows it. He relishes it. Steering an ambitious Premier League club is where Hughes wanted to be when learning his managerial trade with Wales and Blackburn.

" ... We really should be celebrating the emergence of an engaging, savvy, spirited British manager who has learned under masters like Ferguson and now spends his club’s vast wealth shrewdly."

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Hello, Piers, your column in the Mail on Sunday never fails to amuse. Having read it three times, the argument appears to be that because Adrian Mutu was banned for seven months for "merely" taking cocaine and owes Chelsea, who fired him, £14million in compensation, Emmanuel Adebayor should receive more than a three-match ban for kicking Robin van Persie.

Brilliant.

And Morgan, a self-confessed Arsenal fan, excels even himself by describing Adebayor as a narcissist, defined as "someone with an exceptional interest in or admiration for oneself". There is no picture of a kettle or a pot on the page, but I imagine the sub-editor was tempted.