Manchester United vs Manchester City: Kevin de Bruyne does not believe in karma as he addresses Pogba red

Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne has shrugged off talk of Paul Pogba suffering the repercussions of stating that he hopes that City trail off in their invincible run by losing a few players through injury.

The Manchester United midfielder was shown a red card against Arsenal for his tackle on Hector Bellerin and has been handed a three-game ban, which will see him miss the Manchester derby next weekend. City maintained their eight-point lead over United at the top of the Premier League by beating West Ham 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.

United have decided against appealing the red card, which means that Pogba will now certainly miss the derby this weekend, a massive blow in their hopes of closing the gap at the top of the table. The Frenchman was an influential figure at the Emirates and his absence at Old Trafford will be deeply felt as Jose Mourinho enters what is arguably his biggest game of the season.

Meanwhile, the Belgian, who has been arguably City's most potent attacking threat this season, has stated that he does not believe in Karma and would rather face United's strongest squad to end any discussion of an advantage.

"I don't believe in that s***," he said bluntly, as quoted by Goal. "I'm a very straightforward guy. If someone believes it is karma then OK, everyone has their right to their opinion.

"I don't want anyone to get injured. It's a competition, you want to play against the best teams and the best players. It depends on what they want to do. Pogba's a massive player. I know him a little bit. He's unbelievable. He took a red card and that's the way it goes: you have injuries and suspensions.

"We'll play the same there. We never change. We try to do the things that we are good at. That gives us the best chance to win.

"United are one of the biggest clubs in the country. They're a massive team, they want to win the title. They spent a lot of money, like a lot of the big teams. They will be up for it and we will be up for it. Hopefully, it'll be a good game."