Everton v Manchester City

Home woes have become a real concern for Marco Silva and Everton, so the last thing they need is a Goodison clash with title chasing Manchester City. 

The Toffees come into this one on the back of a dismal 3-1 loss at the hands of Wolves.

City put memories of last week’s 2-1 defeat at St James’ Park behind them when they returned to their brilliant best, Sergio Aguero firing a hat-trick past a helpless Arsenal outfit in a 3-1 win.

In just 39 fixtures this season, the Manchester club have netted a mammoth 112 goals in all competitions.

The game will definitely divide many Evertonians and the Blues will gain the support of their neighbours across the park for this one.

A win for City would see them overtake Liverpool at the summit of the Premier League for the first time in over a month.

A home win would see the Reds maintain their three point lead at the top, with a game in hand over the Citizens.

Sound familiar? City came to Goodison in 2014 in a tense title battle with Liverpool and they triumphed 3-2 that day — with some questionable goalkeeping from Tim Howard not going unnoticed by the Kop faithful.

One man who does not care about city rivalries is Silva –  all he wants to do is win.

With good cause, too.

Despite a vote of confidence from Farhad Moshiri, he can surely feel the pressure after some recent poor results and performances.

The reverse fixture in December at the Etihad saw a professional performance from City, 3-1 winners that.

Despite an array of chances for the Blues, City proved more clinical as both 5ft9 Gabriel Jesus and 5ft7 Raheem Sterling netted headers, beating two centre halves standing at 6ft3 each, and another who stands at a giant 6ft5.

One to watch 

Kevin De Bruyne has experienced an indifferent season.

The campaign has been very stop-start for the Belgian midfielder, only making his first PL start at the Etihad this season against the Gunners at the weekend.

But his class is there for all to see and City’s number 17 will prove a handful for Everton’s lacklustre defence.

Whether it is picking out that killer pass or scoring the occasional screamer, De Bruyne has it all and will have to be given special treatment if Everton are to get anything out of the game.

Team news 

Phil Jagielka continues to be absent for the home side, Yerry Mina is still a doubt after his injury at Millwall. Leighton Baines limped off for the second game on the bounce but Lucas Digne has served his one-match ban.

City will be without influential skipper Vincent Kompany while Benjamin Mendy will be assessed prior to kick-off.

Man in the middle 

Craig Pawson will have control of this one. He sent Jagielka off at Molineux on the opening day of the campaign, he also refereed City’s 3-1 win over Everton in Manchester.

In 24 games, he has shown 96 yellow cards and four reds.