Carlo Ancelotti face his first major test as Everton manager as the Toffees visit Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
A win could take City above Leicester whilst Everton can make it three games unbeaten under Carlo Ancelotti, if they avoid defeat.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesEderson is set to return in goal for Manchester City after serving an one match ban on Sunday against Sheffield United.
John Stones (hamstring) and David Silva (knock) should also be in contention to return but Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane remain long-term absentees with knee injuries.
Everton could have Morgan Schneiderlin available after the Frenchman failed to recover sufficiently from a calf injury to face Newcastle at the weekend.
Alex Iwobi (hamstring) and Jean-Phillipe Gbamin (tendon) are a few weeks away from returning to the matchday squad, whilst Andre Gomes (ankle) remains ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Manchester City are unbeaten in their last five league meetings against Everton (W4, D1).
- City have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last four home games against Everton in all competitions (W2, D2).
- Man City’s Gabriel Jesus has scored four goals in his last three appearances against Everton, with the Citizens winning on each occasion.
- Everton have won and scored just one penalty in this Premier League fixture, coming from Louis Saha in a 2-0 home win in January 2010.
- Pep Guardiola hasn’t beaten Carlo Ancelotti in four previous meetings (D2, L2). although Guardiola’s Barcelona did beat Ancelotti’s PSG on away goals to reach 2013-14 Champions League semis.
Prediction
Everton have seemingly adapted to Ancelotti’s style quite quickly because they have been dominant in their last two games, although this will be their first huge test because they’re going to have to defend as well as attack.
City however will be feeling the fatigue of three games in five days so they might very well decide to mix it up tactically and let Everton dominate, whilst soaking up the pressure before producing sucker punch counter-attacks.
This therefore will be an interesting game especially given that Ancelotti is yet to lose to Guardiola, and fitness will certainly be telling in the later stages so I am going for a shock Toffees win.
Prediction: Manchester City 1-2 Everton
Result: Manchester City 2-1 Everton