Everton v Manchester City
Sunday 23rd August – Kickoff: 1600hrs
Football – England – English Premier League
Now entering the third week of the new season, and both of these clubs can be happy with the Stars they have made. Everton were aiming to bounce back from a disappointing 2014/15 campaign, in which they failed to match the standards set in Roberto Martinez’ first season in charge. It was a similar story for Manchester City who could barely manage a half-hearted defence of the league title they won back in May 2014. Despite it being very early in proceedings for the two, there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic for Everton and Manchester City supporters.
An opening day draw at home to newly-promoted Watford may not have been the start that Everton were looking for, but the way the game transpired (going behind twice) meant it was a point gained rather than a couple lost. The Toffees followed that with an excellent 3-0 success away to Southampton last weekend. It was the type of performance they were associated with a couple of years ago – one of pace, power and quality. One man who epitomised all three of those attributes was Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian striker was sensational and got his reward with two goals. It was a reminder to everybody how good he can be, but the inconsistency that plagued him last season is definitely a concern for his manager. Martinez has tried to combat that by pairing him with Arouna Kone and it appears to be bearing fruit thus far.
As good as City’s 3-0 win away to West Brom was a fortnight ago, last season’s runners-up eclipsed that display in beating Chelsea by the same scoreline last Sunday at the Etihad. Other than a 20 minute spell at the start of the second half, Manuel Pellegrini’s side were far superior to the current champions and laid down a marker for the season ahead. I mentioned in my season preview that the arrival of Raheem Sterling would ensure a better balance for their attacking play and that certainly was the case. He occupied his fullback, as Jesus Navas did on the other side, which allowed David Silva to wreak havoc through the middle. We know that in this day and age it does not take long for other clubs to react to these changes, but such is the quality that City possess in every position now, as soon as you prevent one or two players from impacting the game, they have another three of four ready to step up. With further additions likely before September, it is a scary thought for the rest of the Premier League.
There has been a lot of talk about the future of John Stones with Chelsea strongly linked to the young defender. Ironically, if Jose Mourinho does push his interest in Stones to get him in before the end of the transfer window, it will be partly due to how fragile his career defenders looked against Everton’s weekend opponents. Martinez will be desperate to keep hold of all his key players so late in the window, but the central defence has been such a problem for him over the last few months, losing a player of Stones quality would be a huge blow.
One man who will be hoping to take advantage of any chinks in Everton’s defence is Sergio Aguero. Last season’s Golden Boot winner made his first start of this campaign in the win over Chelsea and could easily have had a first half hat-trick. He ended up having to settle for one but illustrated once again just how special a player he is. His movement and speed of thought is a nightmare for opposition defences so it will be interesting to see how a possible future Chelsea defender gets on against him, compared to the current crop that faced him a week ago.
Everton v Manchester City Betting Tips
Games between these two clubs are often very competitive affairs, and that is evidenced by the record of the last 12 meetings. Everton hold the edge having won five compared to City’s four. Last season’s games witnessed a narrow home win for Pellegrini’s men followed by an entertaining draw at Goodison Park. There’s no doubt that the home team will be in confident mood after their win at St Mary’s but they will also be wary of the threat posed by City. I think it would be folly for Martinez to stray too much from the team that started last week and expect Kone to partner Lukaku. Although the City defence have yet to concede a goal this season, it remains the weakest part of their game and that partnership could cause them a lot of problems.
You cannot fail to see City scoring at least couple of goals if they are in anything like the form they showed last week. The variety in their play and understanding between the likes of Silva and Aguero is going to be a real issue for Everton but they themselves have scored five goals in two games, and look much more threatening than they were for large spells last season. I anticipate this being a very open and entertaining encounter which should lead to a few goals. The visitors should have too much in the end and go can top of the table with a win, but I like over three goals here. Unlike the 2.5 line, there needs to be more than three for this bet to be winner. However, if there are exactly three goals then stakes are returned. I feel it is worth risking the extra goal for a bit more value.
Over three goals 11/10 @ Bet365
