La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A have no such doubts. The Spanish derby has not changed for a hundred years, Real Madrid vs Barcelona. The German national derby is Bayern vs. Borussia Dortmund, and there's not much to say about it. The Italian national derby is Inter vs. Juventus, and although AC Milan fans are not convinced, the concept has persisted for decades and has long been ingrained. The Premier League alone is vague in this regard. First of all, England is part of the United Kingdom, so England cannot be regarded as a country, and therefore cannot have the concept of an English national derby. Of course, this is only a secondary reason, after all, we can completely remove the word country and look directly at the English derby, or the Premier League derby; And the main reason is that the competition in the Premier League is too fierce, every few years, the pattern will change greatly, the former hegemon, in a few years may be reduced to a second-tier role, and the previous fish belly, maybe can soar. Manchester City, for example, were fighting for relegation two decades ago, but now they are the best team in Europe.
Counting the previous era of League One, in fact, the history of the English top league is very long, better than La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, but if you want to talk about the Premier League, it has only been more than 30 years. In the early days, Manchester United dominated the family, only being robbed of the title once by Blackburn. In the years of the turn of the century, Arsenal rose and the Premier League entered the era of two-man turn. Later, Chelsea was hit by money and quickly became a top giant, and the Premier League entered the era of three-legged power. In the past ten years, the Premier League has fallen into an era of separation, which is very chaotic, and Leicester City, an unpopular team, can actually take advantage of the chaos to snatch a championship. In recent years, the Premier League has entered the Manchester City era, and Liverpool can wrestle with them.
So, if you have to talk about the English derby, then there will be several versions of the Premier League era, in the early days, Manchester United vs. Arsenal, later, Manchester United vs. Chelsea, and later, Manchester City vs. Liverpool, including a certain period of time, the Manchester derby, which is equivalent to the English derby.
If you had to choose one, which would be the English derby?
Perhaps, the one with the biggest advantage and the most worthy of the English derby should be Manchester United vs. Chelsea.
First of all, don't look at Manchester City who won the treble last season, but they only have one Champions League title after all. But since the 90s, Manchester United and Chelsea have both won twice. Of course, Liverpool also won twice during this period, but at the time of the Istanbul miracle, Liverpool was clearly not the top team in the Premier League.
More importantly, Manchester United and Chelsea have been neck and neck to reach the last four of the Champions League for three consecutive seasons. From the 06-07 season to the 08-09 season, Manchester United and Chelsea have appeared in the Champions League semi-finals, which shows that at least in the past three years, Manchester United and Chelsea have been at the top of their game, and both are absolutely competitive in European football. The point is, it lasts for a long time.
In recent years, Manchester City have also reached the last four of the Champions League three seasons in a row, and this season they have done so four times in a row if it had not been for their elimination by Real Madrid. But no other team has done this in the same period. Liverpool have reached the Champions League final three times over the years, but it has been intermittent and inconsistent. So, really going all the way together in the same period, only Manchester United and Chelsea have provided that kind of scenario. Moreover, in the 07-08 season of the Champions League, the two teams will even meet in the final, which is also the first time that the Champions League final has staged a Premier League derby.
Since then, Liverpool and Tottenham, as well as Manchester City and Chelsea, have also moved the Premier League derby to the Champions League final. But first of all, Tottenham's heritage certainly can't be compared to Manchester United's Chelsea, and Manchester United and Manchester City clearly have a better historical record.
So, in the more than 30 years of the Premier League, if I had to say that the game of two teams was an English derby, it would be Manchester United vs Chelsea.