Pep Guardiola has now found the perfect balance for his frontline having tinkered with it all season. Doku, Cherki, Semenyo and Haaland form a menacing front four that have all the attributes to cause opposition sides problems in a number of ways.

Semenyo and Haaland are usually the ones that end up finishing the moves that City put together, while Cherki and Doku focus on creating chances and space for those two. Semenyo has been one of the few wingers in the Premier League that can boast a decent goal tally this term, having netted 15 goals in the Premier League which is a tally only bettered by Igor Thiago and Erling Haaland himself.

He’s achieved this tally from 76 shots (2.42 per 90), seeing 38 of these efforts find the target (1.21 per 90). Semenyo has had a shot on target in two of his last five Premier League matches, which may not sound convincing - but his record across the season as a whole is much stronger.

Semenyo should get chances to find the target here against an Everton side who can be quite stubborn and conceded seven shots on target when the sides met earlier in the campaign.

James Tarkowski and Erling Haaland have a bit of an ongoing rivalry which crops up whenever Everton play Manchester City. It’s not quite as heated as the animosity that exists between Gabriel and Haaland, which we saw flare up recently, but it’s still notable and I think the pair will be in each other’s faces again here.

Tarkowski committed a foul when these sides met earlier in the season, one of 26 fouls he’s committed across his 33 starts on the whole in the Premier League this season (0.79 per 90). This record has seen Tarkowski pick up six yellow cards, and he has committed a foul in three of his last five Premier League appearances.

Erling Haaland was fouled twice in City’s win over Everton earlier in the campaign, and has actually improved this part of his game this term with Haaland getting better at dropping in a bit deeper and linking up play for his teammates, as we can see from the seven goals he’s set up this term. Haaland is averaging 0.80 fouls won per 90 in the Premier League this season. 

This is quite a low line, and Everton managed to cover it when the sides clashed at the Etihad earlier on in the campaign - registering exactly three corners. 

Set pieces have always been one of the main strengths of David Moyes’ sides and they have become the flavour of the Premier League this season with this campaign seeing more goals from set pieces than we have in each of the last 10 Premier League seasons. 

Everton are averaging 4.21 corners per game in the Premier League this season, a metric that jumps to 5.06 corners per game when looking at their games at the Hill Dickinson stadium. 

City are conceding 4.12 corners per game on the road in the Premier League, and there are bound to be moments where City look a little unsettled here given the pressure they are under following Arsenal’s comfortable win over Fulham on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s record at the end of a season in the Premier League is a joke, and can’t be ignored even with Manchester City facing a much tougher test than Arsenal did over the weekend. Liverpool are probably the only side to actually know how it feels being in this situation, they constantly thought they had done enough but City kept coming back at them, even in the most unlikely circumstances.

Manchester City have won four of the last five head to head meetings between these sides, winning the last two to nil. They’re enjoying their best form of the season so far having won each of their last six matches, including beating the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal as well as progressing to the FA Cup final with victory over Southampton at Wembley last time out.

They face an Everton side that have only won one of their last five Premier League matches, losing each of their last two against Liverpool and West Ham. City have avoided defeat in 13 of their 17 away games this season, winning nine of these matches, and have notably scored the second most goals of any side away from home in the Premier League this season (28).

Nico O’Reilly is such a talented player, and has got more involved in the final third as the season has unfolded for Manchester City. He could start in midfield here, which would be great for our selection, but even as a left back he poses a threat with how often he looks to push forward into that channel and support Doku or make late runs into the box while most defenders focus on Haaland as the main threat.

He’s registered eight goal contributions in the Premier League this season, five of them being goals, which is a tally that is better than the likes of Doku, Silva and Reijnders and only two away from matching the output of Foden this season. He’s scored nine goals across all competitions, including two in the EFL Cup final against Arsenal which shows that he is often ready to step up to the big occasions.

He’s taken 36 shots across his 26 starts in the Premier League this season (1.36 per 90), seeing 14 of these attempts find the target (0.53 per 90). This record has improved as the season has gone on, with O’Reilly being more encouraged to move into advanced areas by Pep Guardiola to offer a different attacking threat to Erling Haaland.

Marc Guehi is incredibly strong when it comes to winning fouls for a centre back having won a foul in each of his last four Premier League matches, drawing 2+ fouls from the opponent in three of these games. He’ll have another favourable matchup here against Beto, and possibly Barry later in the contest - both of whom are incredibly reckless.

Beto has committed 30 fouls across his 14 starts in the Premier League this season (2.00 per 90), making him the perfect striker to target Guehi on a few occasions. I always like backing strikers for fouls when I know that they will be at the pinnacle of a low block, it means that for large periods they will not have support from their teammates and have to chase down lost causes on their own - most of the time being outnumbered, naturally leading to frustration.

Guehi is averaging 0.97 fouls won per 90 across the season as a whole, but recent weeks have seen an increase in this metric and he has the ideal opponent here in Beto to force a rise in these numbers once again.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has been Everton’s best player this season, alongside Iliman Ndiaye, and actually sits as Everton’s joint top scorer in the Premier League (8) despite missing a few months of the campaign due to injury.

He’s provided a goal contribution in each of his last three Premier League matches, scoring two goals, and has also picked up six yellow cards across his 26 starts in the Premier League - only James Garner (10) and Tim Iroegbunam (8) have picked up more yellow cards in the Premier League this season for Everton than Dewsbury-Hall.

He usually pushes right up alongside Beto as part of Everton’s 4-4-2 shape when they are without the ball, allowing him to be the first line of the press but also to be in those central areas to get shots away when Everton do get chances in this clash.