The Everton vs Manchester City match will be played this Saturday, May 3, 2014 (9:30 AM Pacific) at Goodison Park.
Both teams are under pressure to perform exquisitely, since this game could be decisive for their ambition to clinch their desired positions at the end of the season. Everton have slim chances to qualify for the Champions League, and Manchester City must win all of the remaining games to win the title.
The home side is in a downfall at the moment, which came after a stint of terrific results – 7 victories in a row in Premier League, which brought them the fourth place three weeks ago. But, in those last three matches, they lost two, to Crystal Palace and Southampton, and they are clearly not at their best at the moment.
On the other hand, City received a huge boost after Chelsea’s victory over Liverpool, so they’ve beaten high flying Crystal Palace last week, and gotten into pole position in the title race. The goal for Pellegrini is clear – if City manage to win all of their forthcoming fixtures, they will be the champions.
The game they will be playing tomorrow against Everton could be decisive, considering that they are playing at home against Aston Villa and West Ham in the last two rounds. City has a fantastic record at Etihad this season, with 15 wins out of 18 matches, so it would be a real miracle if they fail to win against those two teams. So, we can say that with the win at Goodison, City will come very close to winning the title.
However, the match tradition on Everton stadium stacks strongly against them. In fact, City won only one out of their ten last matches, with seven Everton victories and two draws. This should be a very serious warning sign for the title favorites, but nevertheless, Manchester City is the better team, and they should win this match.
Everton are having a lot of problems with injuries at the moment. Mirallas, Oviedo, Gibson, Piennar, Traore and Kone have been out for quite some time, and Gareth Barry is unavailable against his parent club. Good news for Everton is that the standard defenders Baines, Jagielka and Distin could be back in action for this match.
City have only one injured player, Matija Nastasic, but Silva and Navas aren’t 100% ready for Sunday game. However, if it proves necessary, they could feature in this match.
It is expected that both teams would play cautiously from the start, and that neither team would go all out attack. The game could be decided with only one goal too. But, Manchester City is a favorite to win this one, since they are in a better form at the moment, and they are clearly the better team.
Considering all the facts, we predict that Manchester City will win with 0:2.
TV Info: Mun2, NBC Sports Live Extra
