Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Manchester City will be without the injured quintet of Wilfried Bony, Fernandinho, Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala and Samir Nasri.
David Silva and Yaya Toure missed the FA Cup win at Norwich but are both fit to return against Everton.
Everton pair Seamus Coleman is out because of injury, while Tom Cleverley is a doubt.
Defender Ramiro Funes Mori is available despite needing 10 stitches in a head wound at the weekend.
Editor’s Note: These two sides meet for the second time in a week with Everton getting the better of last Wednesday’s encounter in their Capital One Cup clash at Goodison Park. Manchester City will be looking to make amends by winning tonight and putting more pressure on league leaders Arsenal.
Last weekend City run out easy winners in their F.A. Cup tie against Norwich with Sergio Aguero looking back to full fitness his sumptuous solo goal showed what Manuel Pellegrini has been missing as of late. His return will be a massive boost especially with understudy Wilfried Bony out inured it leaves Manchester City a bit light in terms of attacking options.
They are also a bit light in Defence where Eliaquim Mangala is added to the injury list meaning that their Argentine pairing of Martin Demichelis and Nicolas Otamendi will start. They didn’t have the best 45 minutes together last Weekend and Everton’s Romelu Lukaku will probably be licking his lips at the thought of facing these two defenders again Tonight.
It was his winner which gave Everton the edge last Wednesday and although he injured himself in the process he looks set to start this evening. On Saturday Roberto Martinez had the luxury of resting key players as they made light work of League 2 side Dagenham and Redbridge to progress to the 4th Round of The F.A. Cup
One familiar face who did return on Saturday was Phil Jagielka, the return of the England International will be a welcome boost especially as Everton’s Defence has been a bit leaky this season and at times has managed to undo all their hard work going forward
It’s fair to say there is a little bit of pressure on Roberto Martinez as his Everton side have only won one of their last 7 matches and find themselves 11th in the table. Last time out in the League they managed to hold Tottenham to a draw but for all of the endeavor of players like Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku more often than not they are failing to win all 3 points.
The pressure is also on Manuel Pellegrini with Pep Guardiola waiting in the wings, he has to make sure his City side don’t feel like they are playing for a dead man walking. They haven’t been the all encompassing City side this season especially with Vincent Kompany being absent, he has to make sure the gap to Arsenal doesn’t increase any further while the Belgian Captain is out injured.
Tonight I think City will manage to get revenge on Everton especially with Sergio Aguero seemingly firing on all cylinders again. A home win for me.
