KEY POINTS

  • Manchester City host Everton in the Premier League.
  • Manchester City are unbeaten in their last six encounters with Everton in the league.

Manchester City host Everton in the Premier League on Saturday, 15 October as Pep Guardiola's men look to exorcise the demons from their opening loss to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. The Citizens were comprehensively beaten by Spurs and Everton will be looking to take that formula to get one over their celebrated rivals.

Where to Watch

Kick-off is set for 3pm BST. Live updates of the game will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport. Highlights of the game will be on BBC Match of the Day from 10:25pm BST on BBC One.

Overview

Manchester City are still sitting pretty at the top of the table, but the difference between the teams below them has been marginalised, with Tottenham trailing them by only a point and Arsenal in third by a difference of only two. They will be looking to get back to winning ways against Everton, who started the season brightly but have flattered in their last two fixtures.

Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are both in contention to return to the first eleven after recovering from their respective injuries, which will be a massive boost to Guardiola, who missed De Bruyne's attacking prowess in the last few games. City have had the better of Everton in recent times, having won six and drawn two in their last eight league meetings.

Meanwhile, Everton will be sweating on the fitness of Romelu Lukaku, who suffered a thigh injury, but is expected to be fit for the fixture. Phil Jagielka is also likely to make his return to the first eleven, giving the Toffees a much needed boost on both ends of the pitch.

They have a massive task on their hands here, something which will only be exacerbated by the fact that they are win-less in their last five visits to the Etihad Stadium. Ronald Koeman has had some great success with Southampton, leading them onto the Europa League last season, but has his hands full here trying to get Everton back into the top half of the table.

De Bruyne and Sterling
De Bruyne and Sterling may be ready to play against Everton. Getty

What Managers Say

Pep Guardiola: "[On John Stones] John has similarities to Ronald. Especially in the mentality. John is a guy who always wants to play, be under pressure. Normally the players who like to play the ball handle the pressure better than the other ones. I cannot compare them still now, not yet, maybe in the future. The long balls of Ronald -- he was the best ever. But John is young enough, he can improve. He played with the national team very good. In the last European Championships he didn't play one minute and now he's playing all of the games. He's already he's an important player for the national team and I'm so happy for that."

Ronald Koeman: "I have all good memories of Pep. We have a really strong friendship. Sometimes we have time for dinner and to talk about football and to talk about life. When he was manager of Barcelona I saw the best Barcelona team in every aspect of football. Most of the other managers win titles but not with that way of football. It is impressive the way City play football. It's difficult to defend against but we have had some good examples of teams getting a good result against City."

Betting Odds (betfair)

  • Manchester City win: 1/2
  • Draw: 16/5
  • Everton: 6

Team News

Manchester City

Possible XI: Bravo; Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Fernandinho, Fernando; Silva, Sterling, De Bruyne; Aguero

Everton

Possible XI: Stekelenburg; Jagielka, Williams, Coleman, Baines; Gueye, Barry; Cleverly, Barkley, Bolasie; Lukaku.

Manchester City FC Everton FC Premier League