Everton’s penultimate fixture of 2023 is at Goodison Park against Manchester City as Sean Dyche’s side look to put the disappointment of the defeat at Tottenham behind them by springing a surprise against the Champions.
The Blues were hugely unfortunate to come away from North London empty-handed last Saturday after coming so close to erasing a 2-0 half-time deficit but Dyche admitted that it was perhaps the performance he was most proud of so far this season.
The 2-1 defeat ended a four-match winning streak and also saw Idrissa Gueye added to the list of injuries affecting the Everton squad over the Festive season. The Senegalese was forced off in the first half against Spurs and will undergo a late fitness test to see if he can be part of the squad to face City.
Abdoulaye Doucouré misses out again, though, and neither Seamus Coleman nor Ashley Young are expected to be passed fit either. That again limits Dyche’s options in midfield where Amadou Onana, James Garner and Andre Gomes are the only remaining fit central midfielders but he has almost all of his first choice XI available.
The Portuguese was a revelation last weekend and, if he can replicate that performance, will make him a seamless option to start his first game for Everton since May 2022.
The manager will have been encouraged by Arnaut Danjuma’s contributions off the bench last weekend but may still err on the side of Jack Harrison’s industry on the wings, for the first hour or so at least, for what promises to be a difficult assignment against a team Everton haven’t beaten since that famous 4-0 triumph under Ronald Koeman almost seven years ago.
City come into the game sitting in an unsually low 5th place in the table having won just one of their last six Premier League games, that a 2-1 win at lowly but improving Luton Town earlier this month.
They have just returned from a resounding 4-0 Club World Cup win over Fluminese and, no doubt, with plenty of pressure from Pep Guardiola to turn their domestic form around.
Kevin de Bruyne, a regular tormentor of the Toffees, is closing in on his return from a long injury lay-off and could feature. He will undergo a late assessment along with winger Jeremy Doku and striker Erling Haaland before Guardiola names his squad.
With City being in iffy form of late and Everton buoyed by their positive results and performances since the home defeat by Manchester United, this shouldn’t be the forgone conclusion it usually is. The Toffees have lost each of their last seven meetings with the blue side of Manchester in all competitions since January 2017 and that is a record Dyche will be itching to change.
James Garner summed up the mood after the Spurs defeat where he said: “We’re very disappointed that we didn’t come away with anything because I think we deserved to.
“We’re not afraid of anyone at the moment. We see ourselves beating pretty much anyone we play. Our style of play is very unique and different to, I’d say, anyone in the league. Teams we’re facing this year are finding it tough to play against us.”
Kick-off: 8:15 pm, Wednesday 27 December 2023
Referee: John Brooks
VAR: David Coote
Last Time: Everton 0 – 3 Manchester City
Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Patterson, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Onana, Gomes, Harrison, McNeil, Garner, Calvert-Lewin