Everton welcome Manchester City to Goodison Park in a crunch showdown at opposite ends of the Premier League table.
Victory could see Everton climb to 14th if Brentford and Leeds fail to win elsewhere, whereas a win would see Man City extend their lead over Liverpool to six points.
Team News
Demarai Gray could return for Everton after recovering from a hip injury which has kept him out of their last two matches.
Abdoulaye Doucoure (groin) and Vitaliy Mykolenko (fitness) could also be available for selection.
Tom Davies, Fabian Delph (both thigh), Ben Godfrey (hamstring) and Yerry Mina (quad) remain absent.
Man City could welcome Jack Grealish back after a shin injury kept their record signing out of action in recent weeks.
Gabriel Jesus (fitness) is also in contention but Zack Steffen (undisclosed) is a doubt.
Cole Palmer (ankle) and Benjamin Mendy (personal) remain ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Everton have claimed just one point from their last nine league meetings against Man City (D1, L8).
- Man City have won each of their last four league visits to Goodison Park (W4).
- Riyad Mahrez has scored in each of City’s last two league trips to Everton.
- Michael Keane has won more aerial battles this season than any other Everton player in the Premier League, having won 66 aerial battles in 22 appearances.
- Coming into this matchweek, no team has played more passes this season than Man City with 17,811 passes completed in 26 matches.
Prediction
Everton fans surely have to be disappointed at the lack of improvement under Frank Lampard because whilst the club continue to be poor on the road, the Toffees have been like a different team at home under his watch so it is hard to predict which team will turn up.
Lampard though needs to ensure that Everton are solid here after struggling against Southampton’s press last weekend, with tame defending in the second half proving costly which simply can’t be repeated here.
Man City meanwhile need to reset after their shock loss against Tottenham because their high-line risky defending finally got rumbled, which wasn’t helped by lacklustre marking despite their attack growing into the match.
Goodison Park though feels like the perfect venue to reset given their strong form against Everton and unless the Toffees has another stunning home display, I can see just one result coming here.
Prediction: Everton 1-3 Manchester City
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