Saturday Premier League – Everton vs Manchester City
March 31st 2018 17:30 – Goodison Park
Recent Form (League):
Everton: WLLWW
Manchester City: DWWWW
Manchester City travel to Merseyside to face Everton knowing they are just two wins away from the Premier League title.
Everton are the only team yet to be beaten by Manchester City in the league this season, having earned a 1-1 draw at the Eithad in the reverse fixture. A win for Pep Guardiola’s side would make them the third team in history to beat all other teams in a single Premier League season, after Chelsea in 2005-06 and Manchester United in 2010-11.
Everton head into this fixture in good form having won their last two league games, but they have not won three consecutive Premier League games since January 2017. The last time these two faced off on Merseyside, Everton won 4-0, inflicting Pep Guardiola’s heaviest ever league defeat as a manager in the process.
Despite the criticism of Sam Allardyce’s tenure so far, Everton would be sitting in sixth place in the table if the season had started when the former England manager was appointed. And they still have an outside chance of qualifying for Europe.
In contrast to last term, Manchester City look every inch the archetypal Guardiola side this season. Having won 26 out of their 30 league games this season with a goal difference of +65, the style of football implemented has those who said it could never happen in the Premier League eating consummate amounts of humble pie.
Pep’s men dominate the statistic charts for this current campaign. They have five players in the top ten for completed passes, the top two in the assist chart (Kevin de Byrne and Leroy Sane), they are also the highest scorers and also have the most clean sheets. These impressive stats reinforce the dominance City have held over the rest of the league.
City have averaged 2.3 goals per away game this season and have conceded a total of just ten goals on the road – well under a goal per game on average. The Citizens have scored in each of their last nine league outings and a win here sets up a title-winning shot in their following game against rivals Manchester United.
Prediction: Everton historically hold the advantage with 18 wins compared to City’s 14 and Pep Guardiola has yet to beat Everton in three attempts as City manager. However, it’s hard to imagine that will not be put right this Saturday.
Back a City win with over 2.5 goals at 10/11 with Betfair.