Man City v Everton preview: Citizens host struggling Toffees
City should be confident of following that up with another victory against a struggling Everton side here, especially as they’ve beaten the Toffees in each of their last nine PL meetings.
A possible leveller for this contest is the fact City will have had two days less to prepare for this clash, with Everton’s 2-1 home defeat to Wolves coming on Boxing Day.
The Citizens will hope their excellent record in the final league fixture of a calendar year offsets that quick turnaround though, with City losing only one of their last 21 such games (W11, D9), though they are still chasing a first PL win on New Year’s Eve having failed to triumph in each of their last four attempts (D3, L1).
Everton’s recent defeat against Wolves came via a 95th-minute strike, a real sucker punch for Frank Lampard’s side who had arguably put in an improved display compared to their final matches prior to the World Cup break.
That’s a moot point though in the grand scheme of things, as the Merseysiders fell to their sixth defeat in eight PL matches (W1, D1), a run which sees them start the round just a point ahead of the relegation zone.
Although Everton have now conceded at least two goals in three straight PL games, it’s their blunt attack that remains the primary issue given you have to go back to 22 October for the last time Everton scored an open-play league goal.
The picture worsens on the road as they’ve now failed to score in their last four away league games (D1, L3), and another blank here would mark their longest goalless run on their travels since failing to score in six away league games way back in 1994.
Key battle: The uncompromising Erling Haaland has scored 17 goals in 11 competitive home games for Manchester City. Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will be out to stop him from adding to that, although only against Tottenham has England’s No.1 conceded more career goals (28).
Hot stat: No PL team has lost more away games so far in 2022 than Everton (12).
