Manchester City will look to win two Premier League games in a row for the first time in nearly three months when they visit Everton on Saturday at 3pm (UK time).
Man City predicted line-up vs Everton
Man City (4-3-3): Ortega; Lewis, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; González, Kovacic, Gundogan; McAtee, De Bruyne, Marmoush
Manchester City survived a brief scare the last time they played in the Premier League, after Crystal Palace went 2-0 up in the opening 20 minutes. However, Pep Guardiola’s men managed to turn the game around and score five unanswered goals to win all three points in style.
Only three sides have won by a three-goal margin despite trailing by two goals in a Premier League game:
◎ Man Utd vs. Spurs (2009)
◎ Arsenal vs. Spurs (2012)
◉ Man City vs. Crystal Palace (2025)This is the first not against Tottenham. 😅 https://t.co/ty7rvqTdl9
— Squawka (@Squawka) April 12, 2025
Now, the Citizens will try to keep the spirits high and get a second league win in a row for the first time since January, when they defeated Ipswich and Chelsea consecutively. The good news is that they have won each of their last eight matches away at Everton in all competitions.
Manchester City team news vs Everton
After a rather uninspiring Manchester Derby, Pep turned to a couple of youngsters to provide fresh legs and energy against Palace. James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly got in the scoresheet while Rico Lewis played the full 90 minutes – and City scored four of their five goals before making a single sub.
Guardiola might be the single most unpredictable manager in football history, but there is a chance he repeats his starting XI from one weekend to another. After all, Crystal Palace and Everton do present a few of the same challenges, ranking similarly in different statistics, such as on-ball touches (17th and 19th, respectively), and long passes attempted (3d and 1st, respectively).
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Ederson went off injured last Saturday and is expected to make way for Stefan Ortega, while Phil Foden’s status is still unsure after picking up a knock at Old Trafford. Rodri, Erling Haaland, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Aké are all out.
Portuguese internationals Bernardo Silva and Matheus Nunes will look to reclaim their starting spots, but both seem to have fallen out of favour recently – and the same applies to Jeremy Doku and Savinho.
“Pain-free” Kevin De Bruyne the difference?
In his post-match interview last weekend, Kevin De Bruyne claimed to be “pain-free” and it really showed, with the Belgian scoring and assisting in a Premier League game for the first time since early December (which was also the last time he had managed four-plus shots and key passes in the same match).
He operated well as a false 9 and, even though he missed two clear-cut chances, none of them had an expected goals value over 0.15 xG and one was cleared almost off the line. His stunning free-kick and the two clear-cut chances he created clearly compensated the “poor” finishing.
The goal and the assist also ended his second-longest run of Premier League games without a goal involvement. This one that started in January 2025 lasted six games, and the longest one happened between December 2018 and March 2019 (10 matches). If Manchester City are to secure a Champions League spot for next season, this is the Kevin De Bruyne they’ll need for his last few months at the Etihad.