City desperately need to keep winning in order to maintain the pressure at the top of the table, while Everton will acknowledge that 11th is not quite what they were hoping for this season either.
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City will assess the fitness of Eliaquim Mangala (hamstring) and Wilfried Bony (calf), while captain Vincent Kompany (calf) is still out along with long-term absentee Samir Nasri (hamstring). They will certainly be without Seamus Coleman who has been ruled out for a month, while James McCarthy and Tyias Browning are both still some way from returning to the side.
When Romelu Lukaku limped out of the first leg, many Evertonians feared they would have to face those two daunting-looking games without their leading scorer but the manager has indicated and reiterated, somewhat unconvincingly it must be said, this morning that the Belgian should be fit to face City, potentially postponing the dreaded question of “what do Everton do without Lukaku?”
As Everton prepare to face Manchester City for the second time in a week, it turns out that Ross Barkley is indeed better than Raheem Sterling.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez says his players should focus on the league showdown for now and forget the cup. The Belgium global has been pivotal to Everton this campaign, having scored 15 goals from 20 league starts, the joint-highest in the league along with Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy.
After having a hand in seven goals in his first five Premier League appearances this season (one goal, six assists), David Silva has been involved in just one goal (no goals, one assist) in his last seven games in the competition.
“We know this is an opportunity for us but we just need to focus on what we need to do to win the Premier League and not worry about other teams and what they’re doing”.
Liverpool vs Arsenal has seen more hat-tricks than any other Premier League fixture.
“It’s tough to call which of the three meetings in three weeks between Everton and Manchester City is the most important”.
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75% – Manchester United have won nine of their last 12 Premier League matches at Newcastle (D2, L1).
