Man City vs Everton
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Kick off: 3pm
Manchester City host Everton in the Premier League today as Pep Guardiola’s men look to exorcise the demons from their opening loss to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.
The Citizens were comprehensively beaten by Spurs and Everton will be looking to take that formula to get one over their celebrated rivals.
Manchester City are still sitting pretty at the top of the table, but the difference between the teams below them has been marginalised, with Tottenham trailing them by only a point and Arsenal in third by a difference of only two. They will be looking to get back to winning ways against Everton, who started the season brightly but have flattered in their last two fixtures.
Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are both in contention to return to the first eleven after recovering from their respective injuries, which will be a massive boost to Guardiola, who missed De Bruyne’s attacking prowess in the last few games. City have had the better of Everton in recent times, having won six and drawn two in their last eight league meetings.
Meanwhile, Everton will be sweating on the fitness of Romelu Lukaku, who suffered a thigh injury, but is expected to be fit for the fixture. Phil Jagielka is also likely to make his return to the first eleven, giving the Toffees a much needed boost on both ends of the pitch.
They have a massive task on their hands here, something which will only be exacerbated by the fact that they are win-less in their last five visits to the Etihad Stadium.
Ronald Koeman has had some great success with Southampton, leading them onto the Europa League last season, but has his hands full here trying to get Everton back into the top half of the table.
Manchester City Possible XI: Bravo; Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Fernandinho, Fernando; Silva, Sterling, De Bruyne; Aguero
Everton Possible XI: Stekelenburg; Jagielka, Williams, Coleman, Baines; Gueye, Barry; Cleverly, Barkley, Bolasie; Lukaku.