Phil Foden and Joao Cancelo to return to starting line-up – Predicted XI: Manchester City vs Everton (Premier League)

Premier League action returns to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Manchester City welcome a struggling Everton side in the final match of 2022.

The Toffees sit just one point above the relegation zone, with Frank Lampard’s men averaging under a goal per game so far this season, but City know better than most to never take a win for granted in the Premier League.

The pressure is largely on the home side. While league leaders Arsenal don’t look likely to slip up any time soon, Pep Guardiola and his squad have no choice but to keep winning matches and hope someone else does them a favour.

In Manchester City’s final outing of 2022, here’s how we expect the side to line up against Everton.

Predicted XI

Ahead of the obvious Ederson in goal, the situation at right-back is far less certain. We don’t think any Manchester City fan would complain if Rico Lewis were to keep his place – if anything, many would prefer to see the youngster handed another start – but we think Joao Cancelo‘s cameo against Leeds was intended to prepare him to start this match. While we’re not ruling out Kyle Walker, the experienced defender needs to be handled with great care as his injuries become increasingly common.

We’re then predicting that the same three centre-backs to face Leeds will line up against Everton. John Stones and Manuel Akanji will be in position in the centre of defence, alongside Nathan Aké in the left-back slot. If Aymeric Laporte did start, it would surely be in place of Akanji, with Stones simply too important to be left out against his former club.

It’s hard not to predict an unchanged midfield. Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne are surely two of the best three players at the club right now, while Ilkay Gundogan has more minutes in his legs recently than Bernardo Silva, who we’re more likely to see coming off the bench.

Phil Foden was used as a substitute against Leeds and is hopefully ready to start this weekend, so we’re expecting him to line up on the right. Meanwhile, Jack Grealish was having one of his best halves in a long time when he was hooked in midweek – the only way his substitution really makes sense is if Pep planned to start him against Everton.

The last – and currently most obvious – name on the teamsheet is Erling Haaland, who just has to start. The history-making striker is exactly 10% of the way to matching Sergio Aguero’s 260 Manchester City goals, having played the equivalent of about 17 full matches. The novelty is a long way from wearing off, so everyone will be hoping to see him step onto the pitch on Saturday.

Starting XI: Ederson; Cancelo, Akanji, Stones, Aké; Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan; Foden, Haaland, Grealish.
Substitutes: Ortega, Walker, Lewis, Laporte, Gomez, Phillips, Bernardo Silva, Palmer, Mahrez.