Could it be any closer?

Both sides sit just 1 point away from each other in the league table; both have won 18 and lost 9 and the goal difference is only 9 apart after a near-full season.

Both teams also go into this match on the back of a league win last time out.

It could be ‘flip a coin’ time when trying to predict the outcome of this one…

v Nottingham Forest

Wembley

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 7/11).

A very fluid 4-2-3-1 / 4-6-0 (occasional 3-7-0):

_________________________________________________

____________________Marmoush____________________

 

_______Gundogan____De Bruyne______Silva__________

 

______________Kovacic____________________________

____________________________Gonzalez_____________

 

O’Reilly_____________________________________Nunes

__________Gvardiol________________Dias____________

 

 

______________________Ortega_____________________

Subs: Carson, Lewis, Akanji, Khusanov, McAtee, Foden, Doku, Grealish and Savinho.

Stefen has the gloves.

A back 4 of Nico O’Reilly, Josko, Ruben and Matheus is my guess.

Our manager could well choose not to pick Nico Gonzalez to start this one; a player who has no experience of playing at Wembley in a squad of players who have lots of experience of playing at the ‘Etihad of the South’. However, I’m going for our boss to show some common sense and play a fella he brought in to protect a defence that is vulnerable to fast counter attacks. The 23-year-old Spanish international to start alongside the slightly more advance Mateo.

Ilkay, Kevin and Bernardo further up in attacking midfield positions and all behind Omar as a lone forward.

Scott is reserve stopper; Rico, Manuel and Abdukodir provide defensive cover. James and Phil make up two midfielders on the bench, while Jeremy, Jack and Savinho give us three wing option in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Ederson – Remains out with a groin / pelvic / hip injury but it sounded like a return to the matchday squad was a possibility for Friday 2^nd May.

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury for anything up to a further 10 days, going off the initial assessment and timescale information given. His manager said on 18^th April that John was getting better.

-       Nathan Ake – Recovering from a fractured foot, for which he has had surgery and, just like John, his manager said on 18^th April that Nathan was getting better also.

-       Vitor Reis – Not selected.

-       Rodri – Continues to train on his long journey back to fitness following an ACL injury last September. On 25^th April, his manager confirmed that he was no longer training alone but was back with his teammates (not sure from what date – it could have been a few weeks earlier but regardless…👍)

-       Oscar Bobb – Injured with an almost inevitable hamstring issue, following a long injury layoff with a fractured leg. Apparently the problem is only minor and he may be in contention to join a matchday squad before the end of the season. More likely is that he will return in time for the Club World Cup in the summer, I would say. There’s no point in rushing him at this stage of the season and with the wing options that we have.

-       Erling Haaland – Following an ankle injury he received on 30^th March, it was confirmed on 25^th April that Erling had switched solo gym work for ‘boots on’ training alone outside, as he continues to make good progress.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yeah.

Result?

I rarely, if ever, go into this much predicted match detail but I can sort of see how this one is gonna pan out.

I think it’ll be a close affair with very few good changes for either side. We’ll have far more possession but they will be faster and more dangerous on the breaks. This tight game could result in it being 0-0 after 90+ minutes but, equally, 1-1 is quite likely too.

Either way, I can see it going into unwanted, energy-sapping extra time and then it’s a case of who is the fittest; who will dare to overload and push for a winner and who can hold their nerve.

Penalties? That’s a decent possibility too and one scenario that travelling fans, who are due in work or school on Monday morning, won’t be relishing.

Trying to apply some footballing logic to it – both sides did indeed have morale-boosting wins in their last fixtures; one, for Forest, to arrest a little blip and settle some nerves and a crackin’ victory for us to maintain recent upwards momentum.

On that basis alone, I’m going for us to just about nick it; whether that be in ‘the 90’, the ‘extra 30’ or by penalties. I’m going for City to book their place in the final to face Crystal Palace on 17th May.

Quite understandably, in my opinion, there may well be less City fans in the stadium due to around 5,000 of our allocation remaining unsold but…MAKE SOME NOISE BLUES!

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: A crackin’ day for a game of footy at Wembley. 21C (70F in old money) with some sunshine. Perfick. As is often the case, it’s highly likely to be closer to the mid-70s Fahrenheit inside the ground so…enjoy! 🌤😎🍺🌭⚽

Solidarity

Bore, bore, quick-score-score.

There ya go, match report for last Saturday done in just five words.

As one Manchester City fan said just after the game at Goodison Park, if Everton had had anything better in their locker they could well have taken all 3 points.

But they didn’t and not wishing to sound dour; I’ll take boring and not playing particularly well along with 3 points every time at the moment. Job done and we move on.

v Aston Villa

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).

A very fluid 4-2-3-1 / 3-6-1 / 4-6-0:

_________________________________________________

____________________Marmoush____________________

 

________Grealish______Foden_______McAtee_________

 

______________Kovacic____________________________

____________________________Gonzalez_____________

 

O’Reilly_____________________________________Lewis

__________Gvardiol_______________Dias_____________

 

 

______________________Ortega_____________________

Subs: Carson, Akanji, Khusanov, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Nunes, Silva, Doku and Savinho.

Stefan continues in goal.

A similar back 4 to our last outing but we might see a rotation of right wing-back once again. I’m going for Nico O’Reilly and Rico on the flanks with Josko and Ruben continuing their partnership in the middle.

A ‘double pivot’ of Nico Gonzalez and Mateo, with Kovacic slightly more advanced is my guess in deep midfield; Jack, Phil and James to come in all behind Omar.

Scott is our reserve stopper; a returning Manuel and Abdukodir are two defensive replacement options waiting for their chance. Midfielders Kevin, Ilkay, Matheus and Bernardo get to sit on the side for the start of the match, having all played most of ‘the 90’ just 3 days earlier; Jeremy and Savinho provide wing options in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Ederson – Out with a groin / pelvic / hip injury. Unknown return date.

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury for anything up to 2 weeks, going off the initial assessment and timescale information given. His manager said on 18^th April that John was getting better.

-       Nathan Ake – Recovering from a fractured foot, for which he has had surgery and, just like John, his manager said on 18^th April that Nathan was getting better also.

-       Vitor Reis – Not selected.

-       Rodri – Continues to train as he maintains his long journey back to fitness following an ACL injury last September.

-       Oscar Bobb – Not selected.

-       Erling Haaland – Back in the gym doing light training as he recovers from an ankle injury he received on 30^th March. Unlikely to make the F.A. Cup on Sunday afternoon but I’m sure he and everyone connected with Manchester City will be hopeful of a return to the matchday squad in time to face Wolves at home in the league on Friday 2^nd May; an 8:00pm (BST) KO.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yep. If I’m correct, a fresh three (all English!) behind Marmoush could be a very good thing indeed.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Claudio Echeverri being involved in the matchday squad before the end of the season – an attacking ‘surprise package’ could just be the edge we need in our pursuit of as many points as possible between now and 25^th May.

Result?

Well, I’ve said that I’ll take not playing particularly well and 3 points every time at the moment but we’re gonna have to play a HELL of a lot better on Tuesday night than we did last Saturday afternoon. Anything less than our best – whatever that may be at the moment – and it’ll be 3 points to the Villains for sure.

Results wise, we appear to be hitting some kind of form – L D W D W W in the league shows you that. But I’m all too easily reminded about the first 20 to 30 minutes against Crystal Palace as well as the boring, lacklustre performances against both Everton and Manyoo and it just doesn’t FELL like good form, if that makes any sense.

In contrast, Aston Villa are absolutely flying just at the right time and look to be brimming with confidence, sadly for us.

I desperately want to say that this will be a win for us…but I just can’t.

The best I can give you is that we CAN raise our game when we want to (an in-form Palace found that out) and if the home crowd get behind our lads and make the fixture feel like a semi-final in the Champions League; we could very easily see a raised performance from the men in sky blue and white (and navy) once again.

I’m going for us to do just that 👍…and I’m going for a draw, which won’t be such a bad result all things considered, I don’t think.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: Win

Result: Won

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Decent and nothing much to report. 13C and dry with just a light, southerly breeze. 🧥🧣🥧🍺⚽

A mad mix of kick-off times coming up

(in time order)…

A 3:00pm (Saturday)

A 4:00pm (Sunday)

A 4:30pm (Sunday)

A 7:00pm (Sunday)

Two 8:00pms (Tuesday and a Friday)

Solidarity

Jekyll and Hyde City V galvanised Everton

Before the start of the match against Crystal Palace last Saturday I had us down for a draw. After 21 minutes I’d have gladly taken one, as the somewhat surprise starting line-up appeared to blow up in our faces; in a game where we could easily have been 0-4 down in the first 30 minutes or there abouts.

What a comeback! It was swashbuckling at times in the second half, plus far more pace and hard work / pressing without the ball. City of old.

Although I would have expected some kind of response to Palace’s opening salvo, the way we are at the moment I didn’t think we’d have it in us to go that far past drawing level with The Eagles AND not concede at least a third.

That could just be the morale-boosting victory our players very much needed to take ‘em into the final few, very tough weeks of the season…🤞

v Everton

Goodison Park - our last ever visit to this 132-year-old stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 6/11).

A very fluid 4-2-3-1 / 3-6-1 / 4-6-0:

_________________________________________________

____________________Marmoush____________________

 

 

_______Gundogan____De Bruyne______Silva__________

 

______________Kovacic_______Gonzalez_____________

 

O’Reilly_____________________________________Lewis

__________Gvardiol_______________Dias_____________

 

 

______________________Ortega_____________________

Subs: Carson, Khusanov, Reis, Foden, McAtee, Nunes, Doku, Grealish and Savinho.

Stefan is handed the gloves for the time being.

A largely forced / settled back-4 of Nico O’Reilly, Josko, Ruben and Rico.

Mateo and Nico Gonzalez to operate in front of those, with Ilkay, Kevin and Bernardo given more licence to attack.

Omar largely ‘up top’ but likely to roam out wide on occasions in this fluid system.

Scott comes in as reserve stopper (we could see a youth keeper join him on the bench I suppose); Abdukadir and Vitor are two defenders on the side. Phil, James and Matheus make up three midfielders in ‘the 9’, while Jeremy, Jack and Savinho give us a variety of wing options from the bench.

Notable absences:

-       Ederson – Out with a groin / pelvic / hip injury. Unknown return date.

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury for anything up to 2-½ weeks, going off the initial assessment and timescale information given. His manager said on 18^th April that he was getting better.

-       Manuel Akanji –  Was apparently being assessed yesterday about the possibility of being involved in today’s matchday squad but, for now at least, I’m going to assume he’s not quite ready. Could be though…

-       Nathan Ake – Recovering from a fractured foot, for which he has had surgery and, just like John, his manager said on 18^th April that Nathan was getting better also.

-       Rodri – Continues to train as he maintains his long journey back to fitness following an ACL injury last September.

-       Oscar Bobb – Not selected.

-       Erling Haaland – Back in the gym doing light training as he recovers from an ankle injury he received on 30^th March. He appears to be a little ahead of schedule in terms of a possible return date… 👍

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yep…and there’s always plenty of width options on the bench should we need to completely change the formation.

Result?

I’ve used the word “galvanised” to describe our weekend hosts and since their change of manager on 11^th January, they really have been transferred into a far-more-solid and consistent unit.

Amazingly, for their fairly low position of 13^th, The Toffees have “only” lost 10 of their 32-league games played (we’ve lost 9 from 32 and we stand 8 places above them in the table). The reason is that they are the league’s draw specialist, with 14 from those same 32 matches.

And with limited losses, especially under their latest manager, I think you can say that they, just like Palace were, are in good form going into this match; with a last 6 that reads, D D D L D W. It’s important to note also, that last win was away at Forest!

Once again, I find myself having to use the words, “This is a tough game…”.

As with many an Everton side over the last few seasons, they don’t score many so perhaps even OUR still-fragile defence might hold steady. Miracles sometimes happen! 🙏

We’re getting better, for the most part, and despite that long list of absentees, we’re actually in a position where at least one player is left unselected because there’s no room in the matchday squad.

Morale appears to be on the up amongst the players and there is, apparently, a ‘good feel’ around the camp and club generally. If we can grab and use those good vibes; add some defensive concentration and work our socks off to pressure the home side then this is winnable.

I’m going for a City win.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: Win

Result: Won

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: When I looked at the forecast earlier in the week for the region on match day, it was going to be a report of bright sunshine, dry and, away from the breeze and shade, quite warm for travelling fans. How things have changed. Morning drizzle makes way for dryer conditions but grey skies in time for the 3:00pm KO. With no sun to bask in, the brisk easterly breeze will make 15C feel closer to just 13 Celsius. 🧥🧣🥧☕🍺⚽

Solidarity