Manchester City v Everton: Premier League – Live | Premier League

On December 26, 2024By Littum

Key events

Sean Dyche is one step away from using the V-word here. The day he starts talking about vibes is the day we know it’s over.

Pep Guardiola goes to Amazon

(How do you find your rhythm again?) I don’t know. Winning games, basically. We cannot think beyond the next game; we will try.

I love the club, the hierarchy and the people, my life in Manchester. We have many problems for many reasons and the goal is to turn it around.

When we won everything before, we had almost a full team. Now we have eight important players out. When they come back they have to go straight into the team and with a game every three days they get injured again. We are in a cycle that we cannot get out of.

Kyle is ill, Kevin and Gundogan (who is on the bench) have had flu for the last few days, Jack (Grealish) is injured. Football is unpredictable. When you think, ‘Oh, this is going to be hard,’ our form might change.

(On the transfer window) If we can, we have to add players, for sure. Saying that, I don’t know if it will happen because the winter transfer window is not easy.

Statistical department City have won 14 and drawn their last 15 games against Everton, so there’s that.

Barney Ronay on City’s stunning collapse

There is no obvious explanation for any of this. A team that was all aura, carrying their presence before them like a lance, has become an anti-presence, stuffed shirts, straw men.

As always, the explanations tend to divide into the macro and micro view of history. Details will always decide a game. But we remain addicted to our sweeping narratives. So the more hardline analysis says: take the Ballon d’Or winner out of any team, throw in one or two key defensive injuries, and of course there will be a drop-off.

Keep news

Nathan Ake, Savinho and Jeremy Doku come into the City side in place of Ilkay Gundogan and the injured pair of Jack Grealish and John Stones.

Everton start Seamus Coleman at right back in place of the suspended Ashley Young. That is the only change from the goalless draw against Chelsea on Sunday.

Manchester City (possible 4-3-3) Ortega Moreno; Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Guardiol; Foden, Kovacic, Bernardo; Savinho, Haaland, Doku.
Subs: Carson, Brits, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Simpson-Pusey, Mubama, Alleyne, O’Reilly, McAtee

Everton (possible 4-2-3-1) Pickford; Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Mangala, Gueye; Harrison, Doucoure, Ndiaye; Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Beto, O’Brien, Chermiti, Broja, Lindstrom, Armstrong

Judge Simon Hooper.

Preamble

You don’t have to wait until New Year’s Day to start a resolution. ~~STOP DRINKING.~~ Manchester City will be hoping that the Christmas break – all four days of it – is the signal they can break out of the stunning slump of the past two months. It will probably never make sense that a team of City’s caliber lost nine games in 12, but the sooner they start winning, the sooner they can consign it to the annals.

City have a relatively decent run of games in the next few weeks, kicking off at home to Everton today. That said, Arsenal and Chelsea have both come up short against Sean Dyche this month, and even Liverpool couldn’t score against them three weeks ago. Any goals will likely be hard-earned.

Kick off 12.30 p.m