Manchester City can go four points clear at the top of the Premier League table with three points at Goodison against Everton with Arsenal playing later that evening against Brighton.
EVE vs MCI Match Details
Date: Sunday, 14 May 2023
Time: 14:00 (BST), 18:30 (IST)
Venue: Goodison Park, Liverpool
EVE vs MCI Match Preview
Not even Everton dreamt of unleashing a wrath over Brighton in their trip to AMEX having not won in the league since March. Yet they did not only manage to win but got in remarkable style. Having scored just two and conceded 10 this month prior to the match, Sean Dyche’s side scored five past the league’s most fascinating team for the 5-1 victory last week. Abdoulaye Doucoure gave the home side the lead only 34 seconds after kick-off with the midfielder scoring again on the hour mark to double it. Before the Seagulls could get their breath back, it was 3-0 with Dwight McNeil’s low cross hitting Jason Steele and into his own net. The former Burnley man then took the game further away from the visitors and into obscurity with a thumping brace after the break. Alexis Mac Allister did score for Roberto De Zerbi’s side in between but there was nothing crashing the Evertonian party. The Toffees climbed to 17th on the Premier League table with this massive result and are now two points clear of the relegation zone. They are now hoping to keep up the momentum but face another huge task this weekend with holders and current leaders Manchester City visiting them. Everton played out a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture last year and are capable of derailing the opponent’s title chances although not picking up a single point in this meeting at Goodison since 2017 gives a grim look of things.
Even not playing their best football, Manchester City feels the 1-1 draw with Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final is a good result to take next week at Etihad. Despite dominating the ball and creating a flurry of chances early on in the match, Vinicius Jr scored for the home side from the first-ever shot taken by the Los Blancos. However, the continued pressure paid off for the visitors with Kevin De Bruyne drilling in a thundering leveller in the 67th minute. As City chase a memorable treble this season, each game is now a ticking bomb if they take a wrong step to disrupt their 21 games unbeaten streak in all competitions. The trip to Everton in between these two legs should not be a stumbling block with their opposition struggling to keep a clean sheet and have won only once against them in the last 19 league meetings. Pep Guardiola’s side have won the last five games at the Goodison including a narrow 1-0 win courtesy of a 82nd minute Phil Foden strike in February 2022 in the last meeting. It was a title-chasing occasion back then as well with City hoping for much of the same but with more comfort this time. They will be forced to rest some stars this weekend ahead of a crucial second leg but their replacements sustain enough quality to see this through. A win will take them to four points above Arsenal in second with Chelsea at home and Brighton away to face before making another trip to Brentford on the final day of the season.
Recent Form (all competitions)
MCI: DWWWW
Recent Form (Premier League)
EVE: WDLDL
MCI: WWWWW
EVE vs MCI Team News
Everton are still without Seamus Coleman (knee), Andros Townsend (knee), Dele Alli (groin), Ben Godfrey (groin) and Ruben Vinagre (calf). Right-back and club captain, Coleman has not suffered an ACL tear but his injury will keep the Irishman out for the rest of the season. Dyche will be uninterested to disrupt the rhythm from the win by making changes to the starting XI so James Garbner should continue to start ahead of Amadou Onana in midfield despite the Belgian contributing to McNeil’s settler from the bench.
Manchester City will make a late check on Nathan Ake’s availability after he went down with an injury last weekend against Leeds. After making no substitution in midweek, Guardiola expected to make a heavy rotation to the starting eleven with Rico Lewis, Phil Foden, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez entering into the fray. De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan are set to be rested but Haaland could start to increase his all-time top-scorer tally of 35 goals in the Premier League.
EVE vs MCI Predicted Lineups
EVE: Jordan Pickford; Nathan Patterson, James Tarkowski, Yerri Mina, Vitaly Mykolenko; Alex Iwobi, James Garner, Idrissa Gueye, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Dwight McNeil; Dominic Calvert-Lewin
MCI: Ederson; Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte; Rico Lewis, Rodri; Riyad Mahrez, Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland
EVE vs MCI Head to Head
EVE won - 78
Drawn - 48
MCI won - 68
(In overall meetings)
EVE vs MCI Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Pickford (7.5)
DEF: Akanji (8), Tarkowski (8), Dias (8)
MID: Mahrez (9), Iwobi (8.5), Doucoure (7.5), McNeil (8)
FW: Calvert-Lewin (7.5), Haaland (9), Grealish (8.5)
Vice-captain: Riyad Mahrez
Captain: Erling Haaland
