Gut Feelings: Everton v Manchester City

Manchester City travel to Goodison Park to face Everton in what may just be a tricky affair. Pep Guardiola will be looking to get some rest for his players as many have just gone 90 minutes against the Champions of Europe at midweek. He also will be keen to pick up all three points to maintain the club’s lead over Arsenal FC in the Premier League. Everton sit just above the drop zone and will be fighting to stay up. So what happens today? The City Collective are here with their predictions.

Manc Pete (@inuisibilem) - Bitter and Blue

City have a good recent record at Goodison and hopefully that’ll continue on Sunday. The Toffees got a great result at Brighton in midweek to boost their survival chances, and City will have half an eye on Madrid. However, I still think we’ll have too much for Everton and can see a City win.

Everton 0-3 Manchester City

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Dillon Meehan (@IVIeehan ) - City Report

I’ve been flip flopping on this game all week. I was leaning into this being a proper “banana skin” type of game, but city have a history of pulling through during run-ins. Everton are currently safe after dismantling Brighton, and Dyche has never had that much success against Pep as it is. The squad will certainly be rotated to some extent, and I think it’ll be a little nervy. But let’s be real, Everton are a complete mess.

Everton 0-2 Manchester CIty

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Adam Marrett (@AdamAdammarrett) - Man City Square

Now we hit the final straight of the season, a tough trip to Goodison Park awaits against relegation battling Everton, who oddly come into this game off the back of a 5-1 away win over Brighton.

I do feel this will be a difficult game, and a tough test for us at Goodison Park. Their crowd will be up for it given their current position this season, so I’m expecting us to be up for the game, but it being sandwiched in between the Champions League Semi Final first & second legs I’m expecting our line up to be rotated here. I know Pep doesn’t or hasn’t rotated the squad a lot this season, I feel needs must here, but whatever line up we send out should be strong enough to get the three points against a plucky Everton.

We know at this point of the season any side managed by Sean Dyche will be a tough nut to crack, but we should have the quality to come out of this game with three points and keep the strong form rolling into the Champions League Semi Final second leg at home.

I’ll go Manchester City 1 Everton nil in a tough encounter.

Everton 0-1 Manchester City

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Craig Resnik-Hanson (@CraigSporticos) – Sporticos

I remember the days when Everton were quite the bogey team for us. That might not be the case anymore, but I could see a bit of the old Everton emerging here to come back to bite us. Evertonwill be desperate to get a result with their survival very much at stake. Pep will surely rotate heavily ahead of the Madrid second leg. He’d be negligent not to. Let’s face it. That game is much more important than this one. Most City fans would probably take a defeat here if it meant getting into the Champions League final. I don’t think that is necessarily on the cards, but a gritty, frustrating game for Pep and a hard fought point for Sean Dyche seems very realistic to me, especially in front of a ferocious Goodison Park crowd.

Everton 1-1 City

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CITYZENDuck (@duckman4real)- Bitter and Blue

I fully understand why pundits are calling for this to be a bit of a trap for City. A trip away to relegation fighters Everton, at a notoriously difficult ground in Goodison Park, sandwiched between two UEFA Champions League semifinal matches with Real Madrid. All that, and if the Manc Blues don’t slip up here, their grip on the Premier League title gets even tighter. I expect Dyche to park the bus in front of goal, and I expect City to blast right through. I’ll take a Haaland hatty (pushing his total to 38), and a City romp.

Everton 0-4 Manchester City

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There you are Cityzens. Give us your predictions in the comments.