Manchester Metropolis will purpose to maintain tempo with leaders towards an Everton aspect who haven’t gained a Premier League recreation at Etihad Stadium in 15 years.
BBC Sport examines a few of the key themes earlier than Saturday’s assembly.
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In-form Metropolis
Manchester Metropolis have a superb file on this fixture and on their finest run of league type of the season to this point.
Pep Guardiola’s aspect are unbeaten prior to now 16 Premier League conferences with the Toffees and have gained three of their previous 4 league fixtures (D1).
Metropolis’s most up-to-date win – at earlier than the worldwide break – was Guardiola’s 250th victory as a supervisor within the Premier League.
He achieved the feat in simply 349 matches, the fewest of any supervisor to succeed in this milestone and in 55 fewer video games than former boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who’s second on the record.
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David Moyes, in fourth, required 296 extra matches.
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Metropolis’s tactical tweak
After successful at Gtech Group Stadium, Guardiola stated he would invite all the opposite managers to have gained 250 Premier League matches to dinner.
One matter of dialogue could have been the 54-year-old’s tweak in ways this season, which imply his aspect have had the bottom common possession and lowest variety of passes per recreation of any staff he has managed in his top-flight profession.
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Ought to the hamstring damage sustained by Rodri early on at Brentford rule him out of going through Everton, additional tailoring of Metropolis’s method could also be wanted – as a result of since Rodri’s debut in 2021-22, Metropolis have misplaced 14 of 48 league matches with out the midfielder.
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Grealish out for Everton
Whereas Everton could take some confidence from any potential absence, they are going to be lacking their very own talisman in Manchester.
Jack Grealish, who moved on mortgage to Merseyside from the Etihad this summer time, is ineligible to face his father or mother membership, that means Moyes should do with out the Premier League’s joint-top assist-maker this season as he makes an attempt to arrest a run of eight defeats towards Metropolis with and Manchester United.
Moyes final prevented defeat on the Etihad with Everton in December 2012, whereas the Toffees’ final Premier League win at Metropolis got here 15 years in the past throughout Moyes’ first spell in cost.
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The return of Kiernan Dewsbury-Corridor from suspension will partly offset the lack of Grealish, though Everton may have extra output from their centre-forwards if they’re to get a end result this weekend.
Beto and Thierno Barry have scored simply as soon as in 14 Premier League appearances mixed to this point on this marketing campaign – the sharpest of contrasts to house favorite Erling Haaland.
Metropolis’s quantity 9 has already scored 9 targets in simply seven Premier League outings and one other objective towards Everton would end in solely the third occasion of a Premier League participant reaching 10 targets in a aspect’s first eight video games of a season – and Haaland himself has been answerable for the opposite two.