1/1/20 12:30 pm
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Manchester City is welcoming Everton to Etihad Stadium in one of the most interesting games of round 21 of the English Premier League.
Manchester City is in a good form overall this season, but they haven’t been as consistent as they were for the last two seasons. Manchester City has won 6 of their last 8 games and has scored 22 goals during that period while conceding 9 goals. Citizens are in 3rd place in the EPL standings with 41 points, 14 points less than Liverpool at the top, and although miracles are rare, they do happen, I will say that the season is not yet over and City has the time to defend the EPL title. In their latest EPL game versus Sheffield United at home, Manchester City was dominant with 72% of ball possession, 4 shots on goal, 8 corner kicks, and high 91% of the correct passes. Sheffield was hanging in there in the first half, but in the second half Manchester city shifted gears and they scored 2 goals and have won this game 2-0. With massive 54 scored goals, City is the best-attacking team in England, but with 23 conceded goals are why Manchester City can’t keep up with Liverpool who conceded only 14 goals. Sterling is slowly entering a goal-scoring form and has scored 11 goals so far in the EPL, while Aguero who recovered from injury added 10 goals. De Bruyne who is Manchester City’s best player scored 7 goals and added 13 assists. Sane and Laporte are injured and their return date is still unknown. I like Guardiola and soccer-style he insists on his teams playing, but I think he needs to adjust his tactics to make City’s defense stronger and less open to counter-attacks because when the Champions League starts in February, City will play against Real Madrid who will know how to exploit the space in front of Manchester City’s defense.
Everton is on a 2-game winning streak since Carlo Ancelotti was signed as the head coach. In those two games, Everton scored 3 goals, while conceding only 1 goal. With 7 points from their last 3 games, Everton has climbed the table and is now in 10th place with 25 scored goals. Everton has scored 23 goals in 20 games which is not bad, but Ancelotti’s first and most important task is to improve the defense which has conceded 30 goals in 20 games. In their latest EPL match against Newcastle away from home, Everton had 58% of ball possession, 9 shots on goal, 8 corner kicks, and 78% of the correct passes. Everton has won this game 1-2 with two goals from Calvert-Lewin. With 8 goals in 18 games, Calvert-Lewin is the leading goal scorer for Everton, while Richarlison added 6 goals. Gbamin, Schneiderlin, Gome, and Iwobi are all injured and will not be playing. Richarlison is Everton’s best player who is wanted by many EPL teams who are willing to pay 80 million Euros to Everton, but apparently, Ancelotti has stopped all the outgoing transfers and he has the final say in Everton’s transfer politics. I think that Everton has a great team, with some solid players in every position and I believe that Ancelotti will get the best out of his players. Everton certainly has the quality to be in the top 7 of the EPL, and they are only 5 points away from there. Everton has one big advantage that other top teams don’t have, they are playing in only 2 competitions which will keep them relatively fresh for every game.
Manchester City is the favorite in this matchup, but Everton did have some success in the past against City. Even though City has more quality and the depth, I’m not ready to write Everton off simply because City has been inconsistent, and they have a lot of holes in their defense.
Goran’s Pick Draw +500
AUTHOR: Goran Kucar
Follow Goran Kucar on Twitter @GoranKucar