Burnley’s shock 1-0 victory over Tottenham on Wednesday night only heightened the fear of relegation among Everton fans.
The win for the Clarets put them up to 18th and just two points behind Everton in the table.
Sean Dyche’s men could leapfrog the Blues this weekend should results go their way, meaning Frank Lampard’s side could well find themselves in the relegation zone by the end of the weekend.
Everton will aim to avoid this fate by keeping matters in their own hands, though to do so, they’ll have to try and overcome a wounded Manchester City team that will be eager to bounce back.
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City will travel to Goodison Park looking to avoid suffering consecutive league losses for the first time this season following last week’s 3-2 defeat to Tottenham.
However, the Toffees don’t have a great record against their Manchester counterparts, losing each of their last eight head-to-head league clashes.
Everton optimism going into the clash will understandably be low, particularly given the dominant record Guardiola boasts over English managers, winning 24 of his last 25 meetings with them.
However, it is worth noting that Lampard was actually the one English boss who managed to get the better of Guardiola.
That particularly poignant 2-1 win over City came back in June 2020 when he was in charge of Chelsea, and it was the game that officially saw City lose their Premier League crown to Liverpool.
In that clash, Lampard got his tactics absolutely spot on. He played a 4-3-3 formation and looked to make the middle areas compact and tough for City play through.
This is key because although City can punish you in the wide areas, the talent they have in the middle of the pitch through players such Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan can present the biggest immediate threat to goal.
In that game, City dominated the ball, but struggled to carve open many clear-cut chances, mainly due to their inability to get key men on the ball in the middle of the pitch.
Chelsea on the other hand did a great job of remaining compact without the ball before springing into life with dangerous quick counter-attacks when they won it back.
City finished with a possession share of 66%, but attempted just two shots on target and were well-beaten in terms of the xG - 4.05 vs 0.49 (includes a penalty for the home side).
Although Everton’s squad isn’t as strong as Chelsea’s was back then, there’s every chance we could see a similar tactical approach from Lampard this weekend.
At Southampton last week, Everton’s played a 4-4-2 but were often overrun through the middle. It’s therefore likely that Lampard will switch his side to a midfield three this weekend, especially given that his squad has been boosted by the return of Abdoulaye Doucoure.
His return into a midfield three should make Everton more compact, while the return of Demarai Gray to combine with players like Anthony Gordon, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin can provide Everton with some real threat on the break.
It’d still be quite the upset if Everton managed to secure a result against the champions, however, at the very least we can expect an improved display and with Goodison behind the team, nothing is impossible.
