Next Saturday, 6th of December 2014, a truly rejuvenated Manchester City will measure forces with a somewhat inconsistent Everton at Etihad Stadium for round 15 of the English Premier League, on a match that the home side needs to win in order not to let José Mourinho’s Chelsea escape at the top of table and to keep their closest opponents at bay.

Manchester City have experienced some negative periods so far this season but their home UEFA Champions League match against Bayern Munich probably marked the beginning of something new for the Citizens this season. Such impressive 3-2 win served to wake the giants within them and from that match onwards, Manchester City appears to be a completely different team.

After their solid 3-0 win over Southampton last weekend, Pellegrini’s boys showed no mercy on their midweek match against Sunderland as they trashed the team 4-1 with another two goals from the usual suspect, Sergio Aguero. El Kun is, by far, City’s most important asset this term as he has already contributed with 14 goals in 14 EPL matches so far this season. The Argentinean is probably also the man behind this sudden quality change seen on the team, as they went from rags to riches in just two weeks’ time.

Their weekend’s match against Everton will most definitely be another complicated challenge to the current English champions and they will need to dig deep if they want to overcome the Toffees. For that particular clash, Manuel Pellegrini will most certainly still not be able to rely on the contribution of Dzeko, Kolarov, Kompany and David Silva, all of them sidelined due to injury.

As for Everton, the Toffees are probably not having the success their supporters anticipated earlier this season and their demanding campaign at the UEFA Europa League is certainly causing some “damage” on their domestic quest. Everton currently occupy the modest 11th position on the league table, with just 18 points from 14 matches. Roberto Martínez’s boys have only won four times so far this season and such a difficult match as the upcoming one against City is probably not the best way to start winning again. After being defeated at White Hart Lane last weekend, the Toffees didn’t manage to get anything better than a 1-1 draw against Hull over the week.

Given Manchester City’s excellent recent form, they have to be considered firm favourites for next Saturday’s match.

Manchester City

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WWWWD

Everton

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - DLWWD

Possible Line-ups

Manchester City (4-4-2) – Hart - Zabaleta - Boyata - Demichelis - Clichy - Fernandinho - Touré - Nasri - Navas - Jovetic - Aguero

Everton (4-3-3) – Howard - Coleman - Distin - Jagielka - Baines - Barry - Besic - McCarthy - Mirallas - Barkley - Lukaku

Prediction

Manchester City 2 Everton 0