United lost their first league game of the season last week to bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers but with Arsenal drawing and Chelsea losing, their position at the top of the Premier League was barely affected.
City did manage a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion but they remain in third place on 49 points, one behind Arsenal and five behind United having played a game more than the top two.
Since Ferguson made his "noisy neighbours" comment in September 2009 in the wake of United's last-gasp 4-3 league win, City have continued to invest heavily in their playing squad but are still somewhat on the outside looking up.
Their wait for a first title since 1968 looks certain to go on for at least another year while United are closing in on a record 19th - the tally Ferguson has long targetted to "knock Liverpool off their perch" as the country's most successful club in its domestic league.
"It's a terrific game for us now," Ferguson told MUTV.
"It's a massive game that we've got to look forward to. Unfortunately we have got international matches in midweek which in my view is crazy, but we have to get on with it.
"We have got plenty of players who will not be involved in internationals and will play. The ones that travel we have to give consideration to the fact that they have been travelling before they play at lunchtime on Saturday."
Wayne Rooney, starting to look more like the player who tore up the league a year ago, came through unscathed from his 45 minutes' duty in England's 2-1 win in Denmark but Ferguson will wait nervously by the phone for any other negative reports.
City, of course, face similar demands on their multinational squad, though Carlos Tevez should be fresh having been left out of Argentina's game against Portugal in Geneva because of "attitude problems".
Having blown a 4-0 first-half lead to draw 4-4 at Newcastle United last week Arsene Wenger's team are unlikely to be anything like as generous a second time.
