Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez in action
Defending English Premier League champions Manchester City will travel to Goodison Park to face Everton as both sides approach the run-in of the league looking for maximum points. Everton sit seventh on the log, seven points off a Champions League spot and can’t afford to drop any points.
The title looks a distant dream for Roberto Mancini’s side but they will need look to maintain second spot as they are trailed by Tottenham and Chelsea for the automatic Champions League place. Everton are coming off a distasteful FA Cup tie while City couldn’t have asked for a better performance in their cup showing.
David Moyes was hoping to mark nearly 11 years in charge at the club with a third FA Cup semi-final in five seasons, but his side produced their worst performance this term. The five-time winners of England’s premier cup competition and runners-up in 2009 were booed off by their disbelieving home fans as they trailed 3-0 to Wigan at the interval. Everton were so poor in the first half it was hard to believe they occupied sixth place (at the time) in the Premier League. As much as the Toffees pressed in the second period, Wigan were rarely exposed and remained comfortable until the end. In all areas of the game, Everton were far from their usual selves. They have won just three of their last nine league matches. Everton need striker Nikica Jelavic to recapture his outstanding goalscoring exploits from last season with the Croatian international struggling in front of goal this term. Moyes will almost certainly be without centre back Phil Jagielka after the club announced the England international underwent surgery on an ankle injury picked up in the victory over Reading in their last league match.
Marouane Fellaini – Everton
Manchester City was expected to dominate its FA Cup quarter-final with Championship side Barnsley, and the reigning English Premier League champions did not disappoint en route to a 5-0 victory. Carlos Tevez, who was arrested last week, was the star of the show scoring a hat-trick and getting the other two assists for Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva’s goals. The Argentine star faces jail time after being arrested for driving without his licence. The licence was deemed disqualified as he was found guilty of two counts of speeding. Besides that controversy, City showed true class in their performance, maintaining an impressive amount of possession in front of Barnsley’s goal and forcing the visitors to constantly chase the ball. The pace and accuracy of the Citizens’ passing was superb and led to several golden opportunities for Tevez. City Have not conceded a goal in their four FA Cup matches so far. They also have the best defensive record in the league having conceded just 24 goals in their 28 matches. The team with the second best defensive record is Chelsea who have conceded 30 goals. Offensively they have been poor compared to their title winning season but they have improved in recent games having scored 12 goals in their last four.
Everton have proved tough to beat at home for the big teams but City will fancy their chances after Wigan embarrassed them at Goodison Park last weekend. City have the second best away record behind leaders United and won their last away match at Aston Villa. Back City for a third straight league victory as they look to consolidate second place.
