With Chelsea travelling to face the defending champions and seemingly in crisis with Diego Costa being left out of the squad, this could be the weekend the title race was blown wide open. However, for that to happen, the teams below Antonio Conte’s side must win and for Manchester City, three points will not come easy this weekend, as they face Everton at Goodison Park.
It’s been a difficult first season in charge at Everton for Ronald Koeman and having been eliminated from the FA Cup last week, there is little left to play for in terms of silverware. However, the Dutchman will know European football is still within reach for next season, depending on what the teams above them in the league achieve and therefore, Everton must continue to push to finish as high up the table as possible.
Premier League form has picked up recently for Everton and they have lost just one of their last five games, which was thanks to a late goal from local rivals, Liverpool. Although it has been a tough season to date, Everton have still made things difficult for the top teams at Goodison this season and held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw before defeating Arsenal 2-1. Despite the defeat to Liverpool, home form has been good for Everton and trends show they have lost only one of their last thirteen home Premier League matches.
Manchester City recorded a dominant win over West Ham in the FA Cup last weekend and thoughts now turn to closing the gap on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table. Having lost 1-0 at Liverpool on New Year’s Eve, a performance which was very disappointing, Pep Guardiola’s team responded with a 2-1 home win over Burnley. Again, this performance was not fantastic and the Spanish coach still has much work to do, to get the best out of his players. Trends show Manchester City as a team who either win or lose on the road in the Premier League this season and they have won seven of their ten matches, losing the other three. Two of those three defeats have come in the last three away league games.
Trends show both teams have scored at least 2 goals in five of their last six Premier League matches and this suggests we could be in for an exciting game. Interestingly, Everton have been drawing at half-time in each of their last seven matches in all competitions, so the second half could be where the main action plays out. With Everton’s strong home record, they have what it takes to defeat a Manchester City team who have shown weaknesses at the back this season. Draw half-time/Everton full-time makes a good bet.
Additionally, considering the goals both teams have been scoring recently, Everton to win and both teams to score is tempting.