Everton vs Manchester City
Date: 28/12/2020
K/O: 20:00
Venue: Goodison Park
Referee: Martin Atkinson
TV: Amazon Prime
Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton side welcome Manchester City to Goodison Park on Monday, hoping to make it five Premier League wins in a row. The Toffees seem to have rediscovered the form that saw them top the table in the early parts of the season, and look back to their best, despite missing some indispensable cogs to their system. A win over Manchester City would truly close the year on a significant high for the Merseyside club.
However, City will be keen to avoid that pitfall. After a weekend in which everyone around them dropped points, City are six points off Liverpool at the top, but with a game in hand. They weren’t at their silky best against Newcastle but were still comfortable winners. A win against Everton would truly reinvigorate the title race; one which seems a lot more “open for the taking” than what we’ve been seen these past few years.
It has been a rather disappointing year of football for the men in sky blue, and a closing victory is a must. That being said, credit must go to Txiki Begiristain for snapping up Portuguese defender Ruben Dias. Dias’s arrival has almost single-handedly steadied the City defence, and has been a key part of John Stones’ resurgence. Despite Ayermic Laporte being out of favour for the time being, Manchester City have kept 13 clean sheets across all competitions this season, more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues – something which appeared unthinkable after the travesty of last season.
The form guide is unable to truly differentiate between the pair, with both teams hitting their stride when it matters. Everton will be keen to extend their winning run to end the sequence of five straight defeats against City, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin ending his five game goal drought might just be the best way to ensure it. It is a true testament to Ancelotti that he has turned Everton’s fortunes completely on their head; at this stage last season, Everton sat withering towards the bottom of the table and were forced to call an end to Marco Silva’s time at the helm.
As they come into this game a mere 48 hours after a narrow victory at Bramall Lane, pragmatism might just be the name of the game for the hosts, who will be working with a fairly depleted energy tank and will likely be chasing the ball instead of controlling it for large parts of Monday.
Team News
Everton
Carlo Ancelotti does not have any fresh injury concerns, but that’s not to say that he the full squad at his disposal. James Rodiguez could have been available for this fixture going by the gaffer’s words on 22nd, but it would be quite risky to have him feature on Monday, with games coming thick and fast. Richarlison was concussed and Everton will rightly “follow the protocol” and have him sit this game out.
Allan and Lucas Digne are missing as well, with the former out for a presently unknown period of time, and the latter unable to feature for another month or two. Former City man Fabian Delph is undergoing individual treatment, and it is “too soon” to talk about his availability. Jean-Phillipe Gbamin will likely be unable to feature Monday but is in the Italian manager’s plans for the coming year.
Manchester City
Gabriel Jesus, Kyle Walker and two staff members contracted the novel coronavirus disease and have been asked to self-isolate for a minimum of 10 days. The duo will not be able to feature, giving Joao Cancelo more game time, which he really is taking by the neck as the Portuguese was arguably the man of the match against Newcastle.
Eric Garcia remains unavailable for selection, and will likely be heading to Barcelona in January. Sergio Aguero featured from the bench against Newcastle and looked reasonably sharp; it’s where he’s expected to start from against Everton as well.
Predicted Starting XIs
Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Holgate, Mina, Keane, Godfrey; Doucoure, Davies; Iwobi, Sigurdsson, Bernard; Calvert-Lewin
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Dias, Mendy; Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Gundogan; Mahrez, Ferran Torres, Foden
Predicted Scoreline: Everton 0-1 Manchester City
I believe the number of missing players will have a significant impact on Everton going forward, which when coupled with City’s defensive form would likely lead to another clean sheet for Dias and co. On the attacking front, I expect City to just narrowly edge past Everton’s backline, and end their winning run of four to close out the year on a high.
