Manchester City make the very short trip over to Everton in midweek looking as fierce as anybody in the league right now. Their very commanding 3-1 win over Arsenal yesterday gave them 59 points, two points behind league leading Liverpool, pending the result of the Reds’ visit to West Ham United tonight.
Everton comes into this northwest England clash in 9th place with 33 points. Marco Silva’s side have lost four of their last six Premier League contests, and displayed a lot of general inconsistency this season. That’s very disappointing and unacceptable given how the club invested £100 million in the player roster this past summer.
That all said, let’s take a look at the injury and fitness situation for both sides.
Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has had a very up and down rehabilitation from his knee injury. The left back is a slight doubt for this one.
“We’ll see day by day, but really I don’t know,” Guardiola said in regards to Mendy on Friday. Team captain Vincent Kompany has been a long term absentee due to a muscle problem, having not seen action since the win over Liverpool on January 3. It his hoped that the Belgian will be fit enough to at least potentially occupy a seat on the bench for this one.
No. 2 Claudio Bravo remains a long term Achilles injury absentee, but the Sky Blues have no fresh new injury concerns.
Switching over to the hosts, the Toffees have three major injury concerns, all in the back. So this isn’t exactly the best time for Everton to be facing the side that currently leads the league in scoring by a whopping 11 goals, and has Sergio Aguero playing on a level that is as elite as possible.
Silva has confirmed that Phil Jagielka will not be involved in this clash while summer acquisition from Barcelona Yerry Mina remains out due to a foot injury.
Manchester City at Everton FYIs
Kickoff: Wednesday, February 6, 8PM local, Goodison Park
Google Result Probability: Manchester City win 71%, Draw 18%, Everton win 11%
Starting XI Prediction: Man City
Odds via Odds Checker: City win 7/19, Draw 79/17, Everton win 9/1
Pep Guardiola Press Conference: City Football Academy campus, at 1.30pm on Tuesday 5 February. The embargoed section of the press conference will be held until 10.30pm on Tuesday 5 February.
Prediction: Manchester City 4, Everton 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.