PREDICTED LINEUP- EVERTON VS MANCHESTER CITY - A STRONG SIDE FOR CITY, FODEN, DIAS AND LAPORTE START

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Manchester City travel to Goodison Park on Sunday, where they'll face an Everton side fighting desperately to avoid relegation, and will be relying on their home games to keep them afloat.

City come into this game off the back of a favourable result at the Santiago Bernabeu in their last game, as the Blues were able to come from behind to draw 1-1, after a fantastic goal from vice captain Kevin de Bruyne. City have to face Los Blancos again at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, with the winner of that tie progressing to face either AC Milan or Inter Milan in Istanbul for the UEFA Champions League Final.

The hosts are having a season of differing fortunes. Sean Dyche's side are in the midst of a relegation battle, where it seems likely that two of Leeds United, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City will stay up, whilst the other two will sink down into the Championship. However, a stunning 5-1 win over high flying Brighton and Hove Albion on Monday will give the Toffees bags of confidence, as they take on the Premier League leaders.

By no means will this match be a formality for City, however. Everton are a strong, capable side, who can cause teams damage on the counter attack and with set pieces, especially when injury prone but key forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin is fit. And, earlier this season, under the management of Frank Lampard, they claimed a smash-and-grab 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium, after a wonder strike from 26 year old winger Demari Gray.

Guardiola gave a huge boost in his press conference regarding the fitness of Nathan Ake, with our boss describing the Dutchman as feeling "much better" and, depending on training on Friday and Saturday, could well be fit again, just 8 days after he pulled up injured in the 2-1 victory over Leeds United.

This is huge for City; even if Ake doesn't make an appearance against Everton, then he may well be fit for the Real Madrid match on Wednesday night, and the rest of the season too. The 27 year old has been phenomenal for City this season, with his excellent performances at left back meaning Joao Cancelo felt he had to leave the club, something that no-one would've predicted 12 months, or even 6 months, ago.

Tactically, Guardiola will likely want to take control of this game, as he won't want a tiring game before the Madrid match, lying just 3 days after the trip to Goodison Park. This means we're likely to see either a 3-2-4-1 or 3-3-1-3 formation in possession, as this gives City the most passing options to play short passes and tire Everton out.

We could also well see some rotation in the starting line up, with the likes of Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne, Rodri, John Stones, Ruben Dias and Jack Grealish having played a lot of football recently, and we could see them wrapped up in cotton wool to preserve them before the Real Madrid match.

However, Guardiola constantly stresses that the Premier League is the most important competition (whether he means that or not is left for you to decide.) This isn't to say that Guardiola is going to rotate against Real Madrid, which he isn't going to do of course, but, equally, the 52 year old Catalan isn't going to brush this game off as unimportant.

A key group of players - Ruben Dias, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish - all had an extended period on the bench last weekend against Leeds United last Saturday, perhaps meaning they don't need another rest so soon.

Guardiola will likely want his players to carry momentum through from this game, and I personally think that he won't want the vast majority of his starting players against Madrid to have gone without playing a game for over a week. Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising to see most of City's team against Real Madrid start for Sunday's game, with the option of a substitution near the hour mark always being an option.

The Blues will have the opportunity to go 4 points clear at the top of the Premier League if they are victorious over Everton on Sunday. 2nd place Arsenal face Brighton at the Emirates Stadium straight after City's match finishes, meaning they have the chance to cut the gap down to 1 point again; however, City will have a game in hand, against Brighton at the Amex, over Mikel Arteta's side.

Here's our predicted lineup for the Premier League match against the Toffees:

As mentioned above, we predict Pep Guardiola to go very strong for this match, with the opportunity to rest and rotate players, so long as the game is in City's hands at around the hour mark.

Ederson will almost certainly start in between the sticks, given he had a rest 10 days ago, and he is such a crucial player for City.

We could well see a return of the 4 centre back system, to cope with Everton's physicality, from set pieces in particular. This means Manuel Akanji will start at right back, with John Stones and Ruben Dias at centre back, and Aymeric Laporte at left back - considering Nathan Ake probably won't be fit enough to start. This gives a rest to Kyle Walker, before his tough test against Vinicius Junior on Wednesday evening. To maintain control, we could see Stones pushing forward into midfield, with Akanji and Laporte tucking inside, a tactic that has been used so often this season.

At the base of midfield, we will likely see Rodri start, despite the fact he's played more minutes all season than any other City player. He was able to get a rest of almost a full game against Leeds, and we could possibly see him substituted early. Ahead of him, we predict Kevin de Bruyne in the right sided 8 position, and Bernardo Silva in the left sided 8 position. Both Bernardo and Ilkay Gundogan looked shattered by the end of the Real Madrid game, but we've opted for our captain to be given a rest, considering the German is the elder player by 4 years.

On the wings is where there is the potential for change, We think we'll see Phil Foden starting on the right wing, where he has had his best performances this season, and Jack Grealish starting on the left wing, as Guardiola ideally likes to play with inverted wingers on both flanks. This seems slightly harsh on Riyad Mahrez, however, after his fine performance against Leeds last week, so we think we'll see him play at some point from the substitutes bench, perhaps replacing Grealish to preserve him for Wednesday night.

Up front, we think we'll see Erling Haaland start, who hasn't scored for two consecutive games, something that seems remarkable considering the season he's had. Again, however, we think that Julian Alvarez, who has had some excellent performances of late, will be seen at some point in the game, replacing either Haaland or De Bruyne.

Guardiola's positive news on Ake means we think we'll see the Dutchman's name amongst the substitutes, with the ideal situation being he'll come on for a few minutes to gain fitness. Therefore, we think we'll see Stefan Ortega-Moreno, Rico Lewis, Kyle Walker, Nathan Ake, Sergio Gomez, Kalvin Phillips, Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez on the bench for City.

CMON CITY!!!