Dias returns as City makes three changes

Men’s team

Morrison and Brown join us in WNRH studio for Toffees shock

Come Kyle Walker, Riyad Mahrez and Ruben Dias while John Stones, Oleks Zinchenko fall on the bench.

Ilkay Gundogan is absent, injured.

Also on the bench, Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho make a welcome return from injury, with Sergio Aguero looking to get a few minutes under his belt.

The teams

City: Ederson, Walker, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Rodrigo, Bernardo, Foden, Mahrez Jesus, Sterling (c)

Submarines: Steffen, Stones, Aguero, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Torres, Mendy, Fernandinho, Garcia

Everton: Pickford, Mina, Keane, Holgate, Godfrey, Davies, Doucoure, Digne, Sigurdsson, Iwobi, Richarlison

Submarines: Delph, King, Nkounkou, Rodriguez, Bernard, Gomes, Coleman, Olsen, Onyango.

WORLDWIDE TV GUIDE FOR EVERTON v CITY

Probable training and tactics

The back four takes care of itself with Walker in the right back and Joao Cancelo in the left.

Pep Guardiola needs to balance his central defenders, Aymeric Laporte retaining his place as Dias comes back with a minor blow.]

Rodrigo, Bernardo and Phil Foden will be part of the midfield trio while Mahrez and Sterling will support Gabriel Jesus.

Can City create more history?

City are blessed with 11 consecutive Premier League wins tonight and 17 straight wins in all competitions.

But Everton represent a difficult test.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side can tie the points with sixth-placed Liverpool ahead of the Merseyside derby this weekend.

The Toffees have two games in hand on the teams above them – aside from City – and are real contenders for the Champions League.

Their main problem has been winning games at Goodison Park, where they slipped again this weekend, losing 2-0 to struggling Fulham.

City have incredible momentum at the moment, but the loss of Ilkay Gundogan is huge considering the form he is in.

The way the two teams play makes for an unlikely goalless draw, and with the Toffees playing open, attacking football, it should be 90 minutes of fun at Goodison Park.

Statistics and Milestones

City are on a club record of 16 consecutive wins in all competitions, since a 1-1 Premier League home draw against West Bromwich Albion on December 15. This is the longest winning streak in competition by a top English team.

• City are unbeaten in 23 appearances in all competitions (W20-D3-L0), since a 2-0 Premier League loss to Tottenham Hotspur on November 21. During that unbeaten run, the only side the Blues trailed off was Ligue 2 Cheltenham Town in the FA Cup fourth round.
• City (23, W20-D3-L0) are currently on our longest competitive undefeated run since April through December 2017.
• City have conceded just six goals in their 23-game unbeaten streak in all competitions.
• City have won 11 consecutive Premier League matches. This is the club’s third-longest streak in a row: August to December 2017 (18), February to August 2019 (15) and April to September 2015 (11).
• City have kept 22 clean sheets in all competitions this season (up from 36 appearances), more than any other team in the top five European leagues or the top four levels of English league football. The Citizens kept 23 competitive clean sheets throughout the 2019/20 campaign (against 59 games).
• City can win a top-flight away game against Everton and Liverpool in a single season for the first time since 1981/82 (1-0 at Goodison Park, 3-1 at Anfield).
• In the 2020/21 Premier League, Ederson kept more clean sheets (14) than he conceded goals (13).
• Ilkay Gündogan (11) is Manchester City’s top scorer in the Premier League this season. All 11 of those goals have been scored in the German’s last 12 PL appearances, but he had to be replaced after suffering an injury in the weekend’s win over Tottenham Hotspur.
• Gabriel Jesus has scored in each of City’s last five Premier League games against Everton. The Toffees (7) are the only opponents against whom the Brazilian has scored more than four PL goals.
• Raheem Sterling may become the fourth player to score at least four consecutive away games in the City Premier League, following Uwe Rösler, Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus.
• John Stones (99) is one of less than 100 Premier League appearances for Manchester City. He scored one goal in 77 PL games for Everton (2013-2016) before joining the Citizens.
• Manchester (7) and London (6) are the only cities.
• City could become the first team in top-tier history to win their first 10 games in a calendar year.
• Les Bleus extended our record of victories by a top-level team to 16 in all competitions, including 11 in the league.
• City are unbeaten in 23 competitive games since a 2-0 loss to Spurs in November.
• They have conceded just six goals in those 23 matches.
• Gabriel Jesus could become the first player from any club to score in six successive Premier League games against Everton. He has scored seven goals in his last five top-level appearances against the Toffees.
• There have been 46 Premier League games between Everton and City. The Toffees won 18, the Citizens 19 and there were nine draws.
• Everton have lost five consecutive Premier League appearances to City, since a 1-1 draw at Etihad Stadium on August 21, 2017. The Toffees have seen only longer top-flight losing streaks against Portsmouth (13, 1947- 1956), Manchester United (9, 1999-2004) and Derby County (8, 1946-1950).
• Everton have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games against City (W1-D4-L9), a 4-0 home win on January 15, 2017 (goals from Romelu Lukaku, Kevin Mirallas, Tom Davies and Ademola Lookman). This remains Pep Guardiola’s biggest high-flying loss as a manager (ESP, GER, ENG).
• City have won five of the last seven Premier League games at Goodison Park (W5-D1-L1), having won just two of their first 16 away PL games against Everton (W2-D4-L10).
• Everton and City will meet at Goodison Park next month in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
• Everton have taken just eight out of a possible 21 points in their seven Premier League appearances in 2021 (W2-D2-L3). The Toffees have enjoyed a four-game winning streak in the league until the end of 2020.
• Everton have lost five of their 11 home matches in the Premier League this season (W4-D2-L5). Only once in the past eight seasons have the Toffees lost more PL home games in a single campaign (8 in 2015/16).