It’s not in Pep’s nature to get distracted by anything that’s going on around him with regards to how other teams are doing and, in fact, I think he instils that mindset into his players – focus!
GOOD…because I’m sure I speak for all Blues when I say that I want to see our lads go to the L4 area of Merseyside tonight (I despise these late, 8:15pm (GMT) KOs) with our heads focused on the task in hand, which is to put on another professional display; come back with 3 points and extend our lead at the top of the table to 10 points.
v Everton
 |
| Goodison Park |
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 10/11).
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
____________________Jesus____________________
_Foden________________________________Sterling_
____________________Silva______________________
___________________________Cancelo____________
______________Rodri___________________________
Zinchenko_______________________________Walker
_____________Dias__________Stones_____________
___________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Steffen, Mendy, Garcia, Laporte, Fernandinho, Doyle, Mahrez, Torres, Aguero.
I’ve tweaked this from my original prediction; whereby I had Cancelo in the right-wing back slot; Sterling on the left, Riyad on the right and Phil in the middle, which left Kyle on the bench.
But I can very much envisage Guardiola tasking Joao with a midfield starting place to supplement the absence of Ilkay and the interchangeable-fluidity of that ‘advanced 5’ looks like something Pep would be very much interested in trying. SO…
Ederson in net.
I think we’ll see Ruben return following a brief illness, much to the annoyance of Aymeric, I’m sure, who did very well in his absence and, so, the partnership of the Portuguese international with John resumes in my predicted line-up. Oleksandr & Kyle to flank that central-defensive pair.
Rodders continues in the ‘holding role’; with Phil, Joao, Bernardo & Raheem causing all sorts of problems for the home side, as well as supporting Gabriel ‘up top’. If that is the line-up and that 5 ahead of Rodri (plus 2 attacking wing-backs) perform well; it could-well-be like a swarm of Hornets all over the Everton defences; as they dizzy themselves not-knowing who to mark for the best!
Zack is the reserve stopper; Benjamin, Eric & Aymeric are the defensive replacement options from the side. A return for Fernandinho should see him sat next to Tommy, Riyad, Ferran & Sergio in the midfield / wing / attacking pack in ‘the 9’.
Notable absences:
- Nathan Ake – Injured and still no update on a possible return date, following a muscular injury that has kept the Dutch international side-lined for several weeks now. In fact, there continues to be no updates at all about Nathan – as the journalists continue not to ask about the defender in pre-match press conferences, his manager isn’t being tasked to give a response.
- Ilkay Gundogan – The German international’s groin injury is not as bad as it may have looked to some as he hobbled off the pitch in the last game and could be in contention for this weekend’s trip to London. It’s too soon for the very-much-in-form midfielder this evening though.
- Kevin De Bruyne – Kevin will travel with the squad later today, we are told, having fully trained with his teammates and is feeling good. I’m sure, however, that Pep and his staff will still wish to tread very carefully with the Belgium international’s recovery-progress, with the Spanish manager recently stating that they have learnt lessons with Kevin’s injuries in the past; whereby he may have been brought back too soon and have-then lived to regret it. He may well travel but he is highly likely to be a spectator in the stands, I would think. The cheeky Catalan might just spring a surprise on us though and include him on the bench as he did with Sergio last Saturday (the EDS have a game on Friday night so Kev may take Tommy’s place on the side).
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? I really can’t work out our hosts – they often win games that I think they’ll struggle to-even get a point out of and lose those matches I have ‘em down for an almost-certain win. They’re all over the place, which couldn’t be demonstrated more clearly as with their last-5 league result which read, D L W D L. I just hope that pattern doesn’t continue after tonight’s game…
One thing that’s become fairly consistent in their results, certainly since January, is their leaky defence; something our attacking player should be looking to get some joy out of.
But they do have a fair number of players who, if the team is functioning correctly, can cause real problems (hence my Jekyll & Hyde suggestion) so, as I’ve already said in my opening; we need to continue the professional, hard-working, solid-team-philosophy we’ve been displaying for some considerable time now.
And ‘The Toffees’ have some added incentive for grab ‘all 3’ against us too, as a win today would put them level-pegging with their Merseyside rivals with, still, a game in hand over the reds going into the Merseyside derby on Sunday. I promise that’s the last time I’ll mention the word, Merseyside…apart from just then again.
So…another potentially-tough game; one that we might have to scrap hard for but then again, depending on which Everton side turns up, one that we could come away from with a fairly comfortable win.
An additional impact on the game is the fact that our hosts have confirmed that they will be without Dominic Calvert-Lewin through injury. I’m certainly not suggesting for one moment that Everton don’t have other dangerous players in their ranks that we need to be mindful of but the England striker is definitely their most-potent weapon and a big loss to them.
Thinking about us, what’s impressed me just as much as the often-neat passing and well-worked finishing moves, is the hard graft throughout the team and the great understanding they all have with one another.
For a long time at Liverpool in the first half and in the final 3rd of the pitch, again in the first half, at home to Spurs, I thought our passing was a little off and lacked a little ‘zip’. However, on both occasions we most-definitely rectified that but whilst it was rumbling on; I thought the energy & desire of every player to retrieve the ball – and the situation – was exceptional!
If we show that again this evening, then I
think we’ll see that 10-point gap at-around 10:05pm. 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: Having been dry nearly all day, rain moves in around about kick off and continues throughout the match. Nothing too heavy and it certainly is mild for a night match in February at 9C (what a difference a week an' a jetstream can make!). Bit windy though, which might whistle through one or more of the slightly exposed corners of this historic ground.
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