City make eight changes for Everton clash

Ahead of the game, Pep Guardiola said that the fitness of Rodri, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol is improving but none are involved in tonight’s encounter.

Teams

EVERTON XI: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Garner, Rohl, Iroegbunam, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndiaye, Beto.

Subs: Travers, Patterson, McNeil, Barry, George, Dibling, Coleman, Alcaraz, Armstrong.

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, O’Reilly, Nico, Bernardo (C), Semenyo, Cherki, Doku, Haaland.

Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Kovacic, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Foden.

How we could line up

Guardiola looks like he has returned to the back-four that has impressed in the Premier League in recent weeks with Nunes and O’Reilly as attacking full-backs either side of Guéhi and Khusanov.

In the absence of Rodri, Nico steps into the holding midfield role where he impressed against Saints with captain Bernardo alongside him.

Width will come from Doku and Semenyo on the right with Cherki playing close to Haaland who leads the attack.

Old foes, new home

Tonight is our first ever trip to Everton’s new ground the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

We played at their old home Goodison Park exactly 100 times, winning 28 times and drawing 25.

City won our nine last matches in all competitions there with Mateo Kovacic scoring our final goal in a 2-0 victory just over a year ago.

The Toffees have had a mixed run since moving in, with six wins, four draws and seven defeats in the Premier League so far.

How it stands

The message hasn’t changed in recent weeks – it’s simply win every game if you can.

City sit six points behind Arsenal in the Premier League table with tonight’s fixture the first of our two matches in hand.

If both the Gunners and us win our remaining games, the title will be decided on goal difference.

Arsenal are currently on +41 with City on +37 and a victory tonight would also cut that gap.

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Match stats

Everton have lost their last eight home league games against City – their longest run of consecutive defeats against an opponent in their history.

City are unbeaten in our last 17 Premier League games against Everton, since a 4-0 loss in January 2017.

Everton have lost their last two league games; they haven’t lost three in a row since January last season.

City are unbeaten in our last 11 league games, collecting more points (24) and conceding fewer goals (eight) than any other side during that run.

This will be David Moyes’ 16th meeting with Pep Guardiola in the Premier League, with the Scot yet to record a win during his tenures at Sunderland, West Ham and Everton. Indeed, only Sean Dyche against Pep Guardiola and Steve Bruce against Alex Ferguson has a manager faced someone more times without winning in the competition (both 17).

Everton conceded a 90th minute winner in their last two Premier League games against Liverpool and West Ham United; no side in Premier League history has ever done so in three successive matches in the competition.

Only Antoine Semenyo (+4.5) and Harry Wilson (+4.3) have a better differential between their goals and expected goals in the Premier League this season than Everton’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (+4.2 – 8 goals, 3.8xG).

Four of Erling Haaland’s 24 Premier League goals this season have been assisted by Jeremy Doku, only Bruno Fernandes has provided more assists for a player’s goals this season (6 for Casemiro).

Only Callum Hudson-Odoi (26) has created more chances following a carry in the Premier League this season than Doku (24), while his 82 carries into the opponent’s penalty area is nine more than anyone else.