Manchester City Vs Everton: Preview

Manchester City 4/9 Draw 11/4 Everton 5/1

Saturday 12.45pm.

Everton have been a bit of a bogey team to City over the past few seasons, and have recorded consecutive 2-1 wins at Eastlands in the last two campaigns – you do get the feeling that a home win is due this time around though.

Unusually for Everton, only Victor Anichebe is in the treatment room, although Louis Saha may well miss out owing to his Twitter issues. City have a clean bill of health.

It’ll be interesting to see how the home team rebound from their Euro-hangover last weekend, and whether the slickness of their first four games of the season returns. From an Everton perspective, it’s hard to see them breaking City down – this is not the same team that they beat last year or the year before, it has a cohesion that makes it far more formidable.

As excellent as both Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin are, it’s not realistic to expect them to subdue whatever combination City use in their front third – David Silva is playing brilliantly, as is Sergio Aguero, and Edin Dzeko is a different player to the one who arrived in January.

At the other end of the pitch, Tim Cahill looks badly off-colour at the moment, and for all the solidity that is their trademark, David Moyes’ side will struggle to make many inroads into a organised City defense – there aren’t many match-ups on the pitch that favour the visitors, if any at all.

Can’t see a clean sheet for Everton, can’t see any goals for Everton – City by two or three.