Game week 12 Predictions: Cityzens to beat Everton

Manchester City celebrate after dispatching Everton last season, will they do it again on Sunday? (Photo credit: Premierleague.com)

Manchester City vs Everton
Etihad Stadium
3:00pm

With Manchester United, Arsenal and Westham dropping maximum points, Manchester City can win big here and close the gap on Chelsea who won comfortably at Leicester on Saturday.

Manchester City will be just three points behind log leaders Chelsea with a win here but they have to go through a veteran manager who has a point to prove after a run of poor results, besides Everton have won more against reigning champions than against any other team.

Speaking of Everton, the very strong start to life at Goodison Park by Rafael Benitez has dovetailed into forgettable results and groanings can be heard from different ends of the stadium, the day is quite young but something has to change for normalcy and confidence to return.

The Cityzens have a date in midweek in the UEFA champions league at home to Paris Saint-Germain and it’s a must win encounter, will that have any bearing of sort on the visit of the Toffees to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday?

A shock win over the champions by Everton will take the Toffees up to seventh in the league and just four points off the top four, it’s not impossible to attain but they will need all their sense of concentration and discipline to earn anything from the Etihad.

City beat Manchester United convincingly 2-0 before the international break to restore their pride after the shock loss at home to Crystal Palace, while many can confidently say the continental glory is what Pep Guardiola’s side wants, they can’t take the foot off the pedal domestically.

Jack Grealish, the 100m man hasn’t really ticked in Manchester and he doesn’t look like he has all the time in the world to make any difference, with Phil Foden firing on all cylinders, there might be some need for the 3Lions playmaker to fight for his place in the squad.

How will Everton approach this? Injuries to the likes of Dominic Calvert Lewin and Andre Gomes is the reason they’re goal shy, Solomon Rondon isn’t delivering the goods and Richarlison blows hot and cold, defensive stability might be the way forward on a day like this.

Manchester City have to win, they can’t cede so much ground to the log leaders at this stage, they need a statement performance ahead of the big one in midweek and if there’s ever a question about their title credentials, this is the time to answer it.

Everton fans won’t like to see this, their club has lost every single of their last five against Manchester City, the last was a 5-0 annihilation on the final day of last season, you can call that the Sergio Aguero game, is a repeat in the air?