EVERTON V MAN CITY PREVIEW...
By The Nark End
March 24 2010
A LOOK AHEAD TONIGHTS GAME AGAINST MAN CITY AT EASTLANDS..
SO WHAT EVERTON SIDE WILL TURN UP TONIGHT!!???
WHO KNOWS,BECAUSE OUR AWAY FORM HAS NOT BEEN THE BEST THIS SEASON....I SUPPOSE IN HINDSIGHT,YOU COULD LOOK AT THE ARSENAL,BIRMINGHAM AND EVEN THE RED SHOWER ACROSS THE PARK AS GAMES WERE WE SHOULD OF TOOK 9 POINTS AND ONLY ENDED UP WITH TWO.
IF WE ARE TO BE UP THERE WITH THE BEST,THEN THESE ARE THE GAMES WERE WE NEED TO STAND UP WHEN IT MATTERS.
IT CERTAINLY IS A DEFINING WEEK IN THE PUSH FOR EUROPEAN SPOT,IF WE COULD GET 6 POINTS FROM THESE 2 GAMES AGAINST CITY AND WOLVES,BY SUNDAY WE WILL BE ON THE SAME POINTS AS THE RED SHITE!!
MAYBE IM BEING OPTIMISTIC ABOUT GETTING 3 POINTS TONIGHT,BUT YOU NEVER KNOW,AS I DONT THINK MAN CITY ARE ANY GREAT SHAKES AND WE COULD GET AMONGST THEM AND CAUSE THEM LOTS OF PROBLEMS,IF WE SCORE FIRST,THEN WE NEED TO THEN STAY STRONG AT THE BACK,WHICH HAS BEEN OUR DOWNFALL AWAY FROM HOME THIS SEASON.
TO BE TRUTHFUL THOUGH A POINT TONIGHT,WOULDNT BE A BAD THING,BUT 3 POINTS WOULD BE FANTASTIC GOING TO WOLVES ON SATURDAY.......COYB!!!
TEAM NEWS:
David Moyes hopes Victor Anichebe will be available for Wednesday's trip to Manchester City after the striker was stretchered off against Bolton at the weekend.
The 21-year-old came off after just 10 minutes at Goodison on Saturday with what looked to be a rib injury.
But during his pre-match press briefing, the Everton manager confirmed it was good news.
"Victor is back in training. He got a knee in the ribs against Bolton but the scan is clear. Hopefully he will be okay.
"I think he is a bit sore but I hope it is just bruising and that won't take too long to go away."
David Moyes is expected to have the same squad available from the weekend for the visit to the City of Manchester Stadium.
"We have one or two knocks as everybody has but I hope to have a strong squad to pick from for the City game."
The trip to Eastlands will come too soon for Philippe Senderos however.
The defender has been struggling with a ligament injury and hasn't featured for the Blues since the away game at Sporting Lisbon last month.
"He is doing much better," revealed Moyes. "He has had a medial ligament strain but I expect him to join us in training probably towards the end of this week."
Moyes is still without Marouane Fellaini who is recovering from ankle surgery.
Everton (from): Howard, Nash, Neville, Baines, Distin, Yobo, Jagielka, Heitinga, Hibbert, Osman, Arteta, Pienaar, Gosling, Bilyaletdinov, Cahill, Anichebe, Saha, Yakubu, Rodwell.
HEAD TO HEAD:
This is our 77th visit to City in the league and our 154th league meeting in total, our full league record is:
| P | W | D | L | |
| Home | 77 | 39 | 22 | 16 |
| Away | 76 | 17 | 17 | 42 |
| Total | 153 | 56 | 39 | 58 |
The Toffees have won on their last two visits to City, last season a last-minute Tim Cahill goal was enough for a 1-0 win, while in 2007/08 goals from Yakubu and Joleon Lescott were the highlights of a 2-0 victory.
The Toffees won the most recent encounter, 2-0 at Goodison in January with goals from Steven Pienaar and Louis Saha.
The Toffees have won seven and drawn one of the last 11 league meetings between the sides.
The last 16 matches at Manchester City between the clubs have not seen a draw – seven Everton victories and nine for City. The last draw was 1-1 in October 1985.
In the Premier League our record is:
| P | W | D | L | |
| Home | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Away | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| Total | 25 | 12 | 4 | 9 |
Moyes v City
All but four of the Everton manager’s 19 games against City have been since he joined the club in 2002. His record in that time is as follows:
| P | W | D | L | |
| Preston | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Everton | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
| Total | 19 | 9 | 4 | 6 |
This is the second meeting between the managers, the first being in January.
The goals
There have been 11 hat-tricks in matches between the teams – five for Everton and six for City. The last for the Toffees was completed by Gary Lineker at Goodison in February 1986. No Everton player has recorded a treble at City.
The last for City was historic: at Maine Road on 7th December 1957, Ken Barnes – father of future City winger Peter – recorded the first hat-trick of penalties in top-flight history in City’s 6-2 win over Everton.
The current goalscoring records of Everton players against Manchester City:
| Everton | Other | Total | |
| Yakubu | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Louis Saha | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Tim Cahill | 3 | 3 | |
| Leon Osman | 1 | 1 | |
| Dan Gosling | 1 | 1 | |
| Steven Pienaar | 1 | 1 |
The players
There have been 13 players dismissed in matches between the sides – the last Everton dismissal being Tim Cahill at City in September 2004 with the most recent City red card being Martin Petrov in Manchester in February 2008.
It will be Phil Jagielka’s 350th career start should the defender begin on Wednesday and Louis Saha’s 50th league game for the Toffees should the Frenchman appear.
Any other Business
The Toffees have just three points less (45 against 48) than the same stage last season when we finished fifth.