Everton Looks to Slow Manchester City's Procession to Premier League Title
Everton host Premier League leaders Manchester City on Saturday evening as they look to postpone the latter's title procession for at least one more week.
City can have the trophy wrapped up if they beat the Toffees and bitter rivals Manchester United in the next eight days, but the Toffees will want all three points too as they bid for a late Europa League qualification spot.
Here's the lowdown ahead of the Goodison Park contest:
Previous Meeting
Everton held 10-man City to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad stadium back in August under former manager Ronald Koeman.
Wayne Rooney's 35th-minute opener appeared to have secured a shock victory of the visitors as the hosts were made to play the second half a man light due to Kyle Walker's sending off moments before the interval.
But former Liverpool star Raheem Sterling's equalizer eight minutes from time handed Pep Guardiola's men a deserved share of the spoils in a match they dominated even with just 10 men.
Form
Everton head into this weekend's game with back-to-back wins over Brighton and Stoke - victories that made it four out of the last seven for the Blues.
Manchester United remain the only team to have beaten Everton on home soil since Sam Allardyce's appointment in late November too, with the 63-year-old boasting five wins and two draws from eight home clashes in England's top flight.
City are unbeaten in the league since their 3-2 loss to Liverpool in January and have won eight of the last 11 games in all competitions.
Defeats to Wigan and Basel in the FA Cup and Champions League have marred their unbeaten stretch in every competition, but nobody has been able to hold a candle to the free-scoring north west team in the Premier League this term.
Team News
Allardyce is unable to call upon Gylfi Sigurdsson (knee), James McCarthy (broken leg) or Ashley Williams (suspension) for the City game.
Idrissa Gueye is touch and go after he suffered a muscle problem a fortnight ago in the Stoke win too, but everyone else should be fit and available to feature for the Merseysiders.
Guardiola has late fitness concerns over Sergio Aguero (knee) and Fabian Delph (muscle strain) while Benjamin Mendy continues his recuperation from a cruciate knee ligament problem. John Stones is also out with concussion.
Predicted Everton Lineup: Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Jagielka, Baines; Rooney, Schneiderlin; Walcott, Davies, Bolasie; Tosun.
Predicted Manchester City Lineup: Ederson; Walker, Laporte, Otamendi, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva; Sane, Jesus, Sterling.
Prediction
Guardiola and City will be slightly fearful of Everton, with the Toffees holding firm on a three-match unbeaten streak against the league leaders since last season.
The Blues will be right up for this one under the Goodison floodlights, and Allardyce will hope his charges can secure another memorable victory.
Boosted by their hopes of winning the league crown against United next time out, however, City will also fancy their chances of securing all three points. With both sides going for glory, a decent game with a score draw at the end should be the result we see.
Prediction: Everton 2-2 Manchester City
