It’s Manchester vs Merseyside on Sunday in Premier League competition, as City hosts Everton in the early Sunday kick-off. Manchester City will look to keep pace with their fellow top 4 clubs, whilst Everton will hope to arrest an alarming patch of form that threatens to derail their season.
Rafa Benitez was philosophical when asked about his side’s poor form and tricky fixture list ahead of them in his pre-match press conference saying:
“We know the Premier League is tough. My idea is very clear, one game at a time. When you are not winning it seems everything is wrong, but it’s not wrong. We have to be competitive, if we are like that you never know what can happen.”
Manchester City has enjoyed their recent matches with Everton. None more so than attacker Gabriel Jesus, who has scored eight goals in eight appearances against the Toffees, scoring at an astonishing rate of a goal every 69 minutes.
The Brazilian will be licking his lips at the prospect of facing the Merseyside Blues.
Manchester City vs Everton FYIs:
Kick-off time: 2 PM GMT, 21 November Sunday
Man City Team News: go here
Premier League Preview Pod: go here
Form Guide (All Competitions): Man City (WLLWW) Everton (DLLLD)
The Citizens have a couple of key players missing for this one, so let’s look into my crystal ball and see if we can’t predict how Manchester City will line up in this match.
The goalkeeping position is the easiest position to predict for Manchester City. Ederson will without question line up between the posts in this one. The Brazilian is arguably the best goalkeeper in world football and that makes this prediction very easy.
Manchester City welcomes back Aymeric Laporte after he served a suspension following a red card versus Crystal Palace.
I expect him to slot straight back into the center of defense alongside Ruben Dias.
Kyle Walker should take up his usual spot at right-back, whilst Portuguese international Joao Cancelo will start at left-back.
The midfield three should seem weaker with the loss of someone as talented as Kevin De Bruyne missing, but this is Manchester City. Rodri will play in the deepest role of the midfield three, whilst just ahead of him pulling the strings will be German international Ilkay Gundogan.
Alongside the world-class German will be Bernardo Silva, another supremely talented midfielder who is enjoying the season of his life.
Their attack will not look quite the same with Jack Grealish definitely not available and Phil Foden subject to a late fitness test. I didn’t consider Foden when I was making my predictions. That means Gabriel Jesus switches from the wing and plays through the middle.
On either side of him will be Riyad Mahrez on the left-wing whilst Raheem Sterling comes in to play on the right-wing.
This Manchester City side I have predicted is more than capable of inflicting more misery on Everton, and I expect them to do just that