Notable numbers before Man City vs Everton match
Man City have not won in three consecutive Premier League matches. In their last two matches, they lost 1-2 to Man United and Aston Villa respectively. Those two defeats have left City in seventh place in the rankings, 12 points behind leaders Liverpool.
The Etihad team have lost nine of their last 12 matches in all competitions. Coach Pep Guardiola admitted his inability to stop the team's decline. Man City have lost two of their last three home games (won one) in the Premier League, the number of defeats equal to their previous 57 matches at their home ground.
Erling Haaland has also not played well recently. He has not scored in the last 3 matches at Etihad. However, Opta statistics show that the Norwegian striker has never had 4 consecutive "goalless" matches at home.
Everton are Haaland's favourite opponents. He has scored in all three Premier League meetings with Everton, netting four goals in total. In the first leg last season, Haaland scored twice against the Toffees.
Ilkay Gundogan was also involved in all three of Man City's goals in the team's 3-0 win over Everton in May 2023. The German midfielder scored 2 goals and assisted 1. He could completely start in the context of Man City's many injured players.
Accordingly, Ederson, Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Matheus Nunes, Oscar Bobb and Rodri have not participated in training in recent days. Of these, Rodri is definitely absent, the rest do not have many opportunities to play.
Man City will be hoping to maintain their solid Boxing Day record, having won all seven of their last home games on 26 December. They are unbeaten in nine such games since a 1-0 defeat to Port Vale in the Second Division in 1996. In addition, Man City have only lost their last home game in a calendar year once in the last 17 years (W13 D3), a 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace in 2018.
Everton are gradually overcoming a difficult period. In the previous round, they drew 0-0 with Chelsea. This result helped Everton rise to 15th place in the rankings, 4 points above the relegation group and having played 1 match less.
However, Everton have won just one of their last 19 away games in the Premier League (D7 L11), failing to score in their last four away games.
It is not easy for Everton to improve this. Statistics show that Everton coach Dyche has lost all 11 of his most recent Premier League meetings with Man City. His teams have scored just 2 goals and conceded 34 goals against Man City.
Head to head record
Man City are unbeaten in their last 14 Premier League games against Everton (W12 D2). Their last defeat to the Liverpool side was a 4-0 defeat at Goodison Park in January 2017.
The home team is also unbeaten in the last 13 home meetings with Everton (W8 D5). Previously, Man City had 4 consecutive home defeats against Everton from February 2008 to October 2010.
Haaland scored a second-half brace to help Man City to a 2-0 win over Everton in the corresponding fixture last season. Guardiola's side had previously beaten Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park in December 2023.
However, Everton have their own hopes. The Port City side have won five of their six meetings with Man City on Boxing Day, with their most recent victory coming 2-1 in 2004.
The Man City - Everton match will take place at 7:30 p.m. on December 26 at Etihad Stadium.
