Match Preview

The festive period is often cited as a crucial period in the season because of the number of matches that are played over a relatively short space of time, but it's always been a bit of a mixed bag for Everton.

It was a horrific winter injury crisis and six consecutive defeats (three of those over Christmas) that pulled the rug from under the Joe Royle regime in 1996-97 and led to his dismissal the following March.

In 2001-02, Walter Smith's forward line was decimated by injury and contributed directly to three losses that Christmas and, eventually, to him losing his job in March as well.

In all, the Blues have won just five of the last 24 festive season matches.  On the plus side, however, our record has been improving over the last couple of seasons, thanks to David Moyes.  Those three defeats under Smith in 2001 became three draws in 2002 under Moyes and last season, two wins out of three was our best return from the Christmas programme since 1997-98.

Of course, the Blues go into this Boxing Day match-up with Manchester City at third place in the table and ToffeeWeb's archives don't go back as far as the last time Everton were anywhere near the top of the table at Christmas time.  Moyes has rightly identified the next three games as being crucial to his side's chances of sustaining a challenge for the Champions League — a goal that remains attainable if Everton can maintain current form.

The margin for error is getting smaller all the time, though.  With free-scoring Chelsea forging ahead at the top of the table, Arsenal having seemingly righted their ship and Manchester United having got their act together and snapping at our heels, we can ill-afford more displays like the one that should have resulted in defeat at Blackburn last week.

Hopefully that limp showing at Ewood Park, apparently caused in part by a flu bug that hit some of the players, will galvanise the team into a much-improved performance against a City side who are always unpredictable.

Leon Osman looks to have recovered from a knee injury that threatened to sideline him for this match, but his manager will cognisant of the need to keep a weather eye on his small squad and his core XI, of whom Tim Cahill has played the last with 14 of 18 appearances under his belt.

It will be interesting to see if Moyes tinkers with his starting line-up based either on the Blackburn game or the need to rest a couple of players, or whether he sticks with the tried and tested 4-1-4-1 line-up.  Certainly the Blues will need to be far more adventurous if they hope to take all three points.  That means more drive and inspiration from Thomas Gravesen and more intelligent balls up to Marcus Bent in attack.

With Chelsea, Arsenal and United all at home this weekend and all playing teams that have struggled for consistency in recent weeks, a win for Everton is imperative if we want to keep up with the pace.  Longer term, Moyes may have his eye on Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Charlton in the chase for the fourth Champions League spot but he'll know that as long as his team keeps winning, everything will be fine.

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Stats

This will be the 156th meeting between Everton and Manchester City in all competitions, and the 77th away to Blackburn Rovers.  This match will be the 16th meeting in the Premier League and the 8th at Goodison Park.

Everton's full record against Manchester City is:

Our record at home to Manchester City is:

The last match between the sides was on 11 September this year when Everton walked away from the City of Manchester stadium with a 1-0 victory thanks to a Tim Cahill header, who was then sent off by an over-exuberant Steve Bennett.  The last match between the sides at Goodison Park was on 7 December 2003, when the sides battled out a 0-0 draw.

There have been 5 Everton hat-tricks against Manchester City.  The last was by Gary Lineker on 11 February 1986 in a 4-0 victory at Goodison Park.

The most common victory for Everton is 1-0 which has happened 15 times in Everton's 55 victories.  City’s most common victory is also 1-0, which has happened 16 times in their 59 victories.  The most common draw between the teams is 1-1, which has occurred 18 times in the 41 draws between the sides.

Everton's record for 26 December is:

This is the tenth time the sides have met on this day.  The last meeting between the sides on Boxing Day was in 1980, when Manchester City won 2-0 at Goodison Park.  In the nine meetings so far, Everton have won 6 and City have won the other three, with Everton scoring 15 goals to City’s 10.

David Turner was born on this day in 1948 in Derby.  After signing professional forms in 1966, Dave made just one appearance when he played against Chelsea in April 1968 when Harry Catterick rested a number of players prior to the 1968 FA Cup final.  In May 1970, Dave was transferred to Southport, where he stayed for the next three years.

Tommy Lawton scored a goal for the Football League in a game against an All British XI on this day in 1939.

Milestones that can be reached in this game:

• If Kevin Kilbane starts the match, this will be his 50th start for Everton in all competitions.
• If Everton win today, it will be their 100th home win in the Premiership.

Steve Flanagan

Report

Lyndon Lloyd