Manchester City are light years ahead of neighbours United in almost everything related to footballing matters. They have better players, better management and a better transfer strategy.
It's been seven years since United finished as the highest-placed side in Manchester and there is no sign of that changing any time soon.
At youth level, it's the same story. For the past few years, City have been far superior. At one point, they thrashed their rivals 9-0, 6-0 and 5-0 at three different age levels on the same weekend.
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Yet for all that dominance, United have been much better at getting promising players from their youth squads into their first team on a regular basis.
Last weekend, Marcus Rashford made his 200th appearance for the Red Devils and the 22-year-old already has 38 England caps and 10 international goals.
Highly-rated 18-year-old Mason Greenwood looks capable of having a similarly big impact at senior level, while Jesse Lingard, Andreas Pereira, Scott McTominay and Brandon Williams have all come through United's Academy structure in recent seasons.
City boss Pep Guardiola does not hand out appearances to young players for the sake of it and it's questionable whether any player other than Rashford would be pushing for a start in his squad. But a lack of homegrown players is still a concern.
Chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak has spoken about the youth policy being pivotal to the club's long-term strategy, which is why the club has built an academy that is one of the most impressive in world football. First-class facilities, first-class coaching and first-class education in case the young players don't make the grade.
Hardly surprising, then, that City have been one of the most successful clubs at youth level for the last decade, finishing as runners-up in four of the past five FA Youth Cup finals. Only Chelsea have a better recent record in a competition that remains an important test of a club's homegrown talent.
"These lads understand the importance of the Youth Cup because they want to progress, they want the excitement that comes with it and the excitement of being in the hat for the next round," under-18s coach Gareth Taylor told Goal.
"Even as coaches, we want the same thing. We want to put these lads in games of this high level, so that they have some experience to draw on when they eventually play first-team football.
"I'm not saying it's completely replicating the standard of first-team football or the stadiums or the crowd. But it's a small step."
For all the Academy's success, the fact that it has so far failed to produce a regular first-team starter remains a source of frustration.
From the first final between City and Chelsea in 2015, only Angelino has seen first-team action this season and that was after he was re-signed from PSV in the summer.
By contrast, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori, who both featured in the two-legged final for Chelsea, have established themselves as regulars in Frank Lampard's starting line-up this season.
In the 2016 final, meanwhile, Chelsea included Mason Mount, while City's standout names Jadon Sancho and Brahim Diaz. Mount is now thriving at Stamford Bridge, but both Sancho and Diaz have since left City, for Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, respectively.
Nonetheless, Taylor believes that City are starting to make a breakthrough in clearing a path to the senior squad.
Phil Foden is still only 19 but has made 22 appearances this season, 18-year-old centre-back Eric Garcia has recently started two Premier League games, while Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Tommy Doyle, who were 17 at the start of the season, have started cup games.
"If I think back to the teams that have made it through to the finals for City, there are a lot of players actually playing elite football. But, ideally, we want that to be with our first team," said former City and Sheffield United striker Taylor.
"Phil and Eric Garcia and Taylor are flying the flag now, so we're getting there.
"Hopefully the first-team experiences that Phil and Eric have had will make that step to the first team that little bit easier for those coming up behind them. And that's all you can ask for."
City push their young players hard to raise their level, with some often moved into higher age groups to test themselves against bigger, stronger and more talented players.
Much of Taylor's squad are training with the under-23s, while Harwood-Bellis and Doyle are regularly with Guardiola's first team. But that obviously makes it tougher to prepare for FA Youth Cup games, such as Tuesday night's fourth-round victory over Aston Villa.
"We've had eight under-23 players come back to us and we've had two days' preparation, so it's not easy," Taylor admitted.
"It's a great experience for the players and what you want to do is just help them understand the situations that they're in.
"We want to reach finals so that these players gain more experience of playing in big games. Hopefully we're always going to be there or thereabouts."
It would be a testament to the quality of City and Chelsea's academies if the two clubs were to contest a fourth FA Youth Cup final in six years.
But the real challenge for City is ensuring that some of those players end up battling it out with their Blues counterparts for trophies at senior level in the coming seasons.
