Roberto Mancini puts out an unchanged 4-2-3-1 lineup from their 2-2 draw at Fulham last week. Watch out for the attacking trident of David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri behind their spearhead Edin Dzeko to cause all sorts of trouble behind Everton’s defence. If they turn out to be impotent today then Mancini has the luxury of calling upon Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli to add another dimension off the bench.
David Moyes looks to have named a very defensive 4-5-1 formation with Phil Neville, Jack Rodwell and Marouane Fellaini in central midfield. Being primarily defensive midfielders, Neville has converted to one since his days as a full-back for Manchester United, they will look to drop back and stifle the Citizens’ attacking threat. Seamus Coleman and Leon Osman will look to provide some impetus down the flanks and swing in some crosses for Timmy Cahill who is a definite threat in the air. Having named 6 midfielders in his line-up, Moyes has some attacking options off the bench with strikers Louis Saha and Denis Stracqualursi, and wingers Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Royston Drenthe.
Look for Man City to be up 1-0 just before half-time which will then result in Moyes bringing off the likes of Neville or Rodwell for Saha to lead the line with Cahill playing off him.
Once Man City go 2-0 up, expect Aguero and Nasri to come off with an eye on their midweek clash away to Bayern Munich.
Writer’s prediction: Man City to go top of the EPL temporarily (Man Utd travel to Stoke later in the day – and if Stoke play like they did in their last game, expect the Red Devils to run riot at Britannia Stadium) with a 2-1 win
