The last Saturday’s match of the 33rd round of English Premier League is clash between 9th-placd Everton and leading Manchester City, which has incredible 41 points more at the moment. The team from the Goodison can boast ahead of the match that it won three previous home matches in a row, while at the very beginning of season it somewhat unexpectedly drew 1-1 at the Etihad.
After the success Everton had a very weak period, which is why it replaced the manager near the end of last year, although despite being under helm of experienced Allardyce they haven’t managed to do anything more than the ninth place in the standings. True, Everton’s main objective has been achieved as the team has 12 points more than those in the drop zone, while on the other hand they don’t trouble themselves with idea to reach the Europa League since they have eight points fewer than 6th-placed Arsenal at the moment, and on top of it Everton played one match more than they.
However, laid back approach was exactly what brought victories to Everton in last two league matches when they won Brighton at home and Stoke away, so now it will surely play bravely against very strong Manchester City with an objective to make as good as possible result at the Goodison. Let’s add that due to injuries this match will skip stopper Mangala and midfielders McCarthy and Sigurdsson, while stopper Williams is suspended due to accrued yellow cards.
Probable lineups Everton: Pickford – Coleman, Jagielka, Keane, Baines – Davies, Gueye, Rooney – Walcott, Tosun, Bolasie
It is only question of time when the guests from Manchester City will be officially declared as new champions of England as at the moment they have even 16 points more than 2nd-placed Manchester United. Besides, near the end of February the City won the League Cup, after defeating Arsenal 3-0 in the great final played at Wembley, while in the Champions League it eliminated Basel and reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
True, Basel had surprisingly defeated them at the Etihad 2-1 but the Citizens won as guests by sound 4-0, which is why Guardiola sent the 2nd team on the Etihad pitch. However, Manchester City routinely won next league match with Stoke 2-0, and now we expect to see the same starting line-up against Everton, especially as not fully recovered defenders Mendy and Delph, and forward Aguero are still questionable.
Probable lineups Manchester City: Ederson – Walker, Kompany, Otamendi, Zinchenko – de Bruyne, Fernandinho, D. Silva – Sterling, Jesus, Sane
Although leading team of the Premier League has great advantage over teams behind it, Manchester City still plays to win each and every match but this time, in our opinion, it might have problems against team that is also under no pressure and on top of it has three-game winning streak at its stadium.
Pick: Asian handicap +1.5
Everton 1.88 - 88/100 @1XBet