Everton played out a 0-0 draw with Chelsea on Sunday – and attention will now turn to the game with Manchester City on Boxing Day.
Everton continued to prove themselves as a solid defensive outfit, shutting out one of the most free-scoring sides in the Premier League at Goodison Park.
In the first game since The Friedkin Group completed their takeover of Everton, Sean Dyche’s side frustrated their opponents, and could actually easily have stolen all three points.
But in the end, a point is a good result against Chelsea. Just as the point against Arsenal was also a great result.
Vitaliy Mykolenko had a solid game against Chelsea, as did the other defenders. Jordan Pickford was described as ‘erratic’ by Shay Given, but still played his part in another Everton clean sheet.
Everton now face Manchester City on Boxing Day, and Kyle Walker has made an admission about the reigning Premier League champions ahead of the clash
Kyle Walker says Man City are training on Christmas Day ahead of Everton clash
Josep Guardiola manager / head coach of Manchester City and Sean Dyche manager / head coach of Burnley shake handsduring the Premier League match ...
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Everton face another tough game on Boxing Day with Manchester City the opponents at the Etihad Stadium.
That said, this is actually a very good time for Everton to be playing City, who have gone completely off the boil in the last two months.
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City, incredibly, have won just one of their last 12 games across all competitions and are in dire straits at the moment.
They’ve slipped to seventh in the Premier League table and have many problems right now.
One of those problems is that they’re now struggling to score goals – which is something that will greatly encourage Dyche.
Kyle Walker has been speaking ahead of the game, and has revealed City are going to train on Christmas Day. He said (via You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker): “We haven’t had to train on Christmas Day. Most do, we are doing this season because we’ve got Everton at 12:30 on Boxing Day.
“But the last couple of seasons I know we’ve had Christmas Day off, which has been very nice.”
Everton can beat Man City
So City are looking to get out of their rut and are seemingly doing their utmost to prepare in the best way to face Everton.
Everton have to believe they can actually beat City at the Etihad.
Everton and Man City head-to-head record
Meetings – 197
Everton wins – 68
Draws – 48
Man City wins – 81
What’s happening with City right now is pretty incredible, since they have looked so formidable for so long.
But they are there to be got at. They’ve been so poor over the last few months, and Everton have the potential to actually win this game.
It’ll be a case of defending resolutely once again, but Everton have simply got to be clinical in the final third.