Manchester City vs Everton – Match preview and team news

The Football Faithful

·26 December 2024

Manchester City vs Everton – Match preview and team news

Manchester City welcome Everton to the Etihad Stadium for the first game of the Boxing Day schedule.

All Pep Guardiola will want for Christmas is a win after a torrid few months in which Manchester City have tasted victory once since October.

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John Stones suffered a recurrence of a muscular injury only 45 minutes into his return to action against Aston Villa. He joins Ruben Dias on the treatment table, while Matheus Nunes and Ederson will be assessed after the pair weren’t fit enough to make last weekend’s squad.

Meanwhile, Everton will be hoping to extend their recent impregnable defensive record with another clean sheet this weekend. Experienced defender Ashley Young is suspended after he picked up his fifth booking of the campaign last time out.

Dwight McNeil is a doubt, while James Garner and Tim Iroegbunam continue to make progress in their respective recoveries.

Manchester City vs Everton – Match preview and team news

Form

Manchester City: WDLLL

It was yet another defeat for Man City last weekend as they fell to a 2-1 away defeat to Aston Villa.

It was a faltering start from the visitors and they couldn’t recover as Jhon Duran neatly opened the scoring. Former City academy prospect Morgan Rogers orchestrated a fantastic Villa performance and capped off his individual display with a deserved goal to double the host’s lead.

Phil Foden recorded a consolation in injury-time but that couldn’t prevent Aston Villa outfit from picking up all three points.

That was their ninth defeat in 12 games and in December they have been the worst team in the division.

However, only two of those losses have come at home. Pep Guardiola will be hoping a return to the Etihad can send them on their way to reviving their season.

Everton: DLWDD

It was another hard-fought point for Everton on Sunday as they held a dangerous Chelsea side to a 0-0 draw.

That was their fifth clean sheet in six games with Sean Dyche imprinting his methods on the Toffees.

Four of those five shutouts have been in goalless draws with Everton struggling to strike the balance between attack and defence.

But imperatively, Dyche has made the Merseyside club tough to overcome which has seen them propel themselves four points clear of danger with a game in hand.

Last Meeting: Manchester City 2-0 Everton, Premier League, 10th February 2024

A routine victory for the Citizens saw them beat Everton 2-0 in Manchester back in February.

Sean Dyche’s side reduced the hosts to very few clear-cut chances in the first half. Erling Haaland nodded comfortably over the crossbar before a crucial intervention from James Tarkowksi saw the game go into the break goalless.

It took City 70 minutes to break the deadlock and it came from a familiar source.

After Everton failed to clear their lines from a corner, the ball fell to Haaland whose powerful shot overwhelmed Jordan Pickford to open the scoring.

The Norwegian doubled his tally with five minutes remaining of the contest as he shrugged off Jarrad Branthwaite before slotting in City’s second.

Everton couldn’t conjure up a late comeback as Manchester City secured another three points on route to a fourth successive Premier League title.

Predicted Lineups

Manchester City: Ortega; Lewis, Ake, Akanji, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Silva, De Bruyne; Doku, Foden, Haaland.

Everton: Pickford; Coleman, Tarkowksi, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Harrison, Mangala, Gueye, Ndiaye; Doucoure, Calvert-Lewin.

Who is the referee?

Simon Hooper will be the match official. He will be assisted by Adrian Holmes and Simon Long while David Webb will be the fourth official. The VAR will be Alex Chilowicz and he will be assisted by Dan Cook.