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2021/22 English Premier League
Matchday 27
Everton v Manchester City
Goodison Park
Liverpool, England
Saturday, 26 February 2022
Kick-off is at 19h30
Everton will be wary of a Manchester City backlash when the
Premier League leaders visit Goodison Park on Saturday, February 26.
The Citizens suffered a surprise 3-2 defeat at home to Tottenham on Saturday, February 19, which halted an impressive 15-match unbeaten run, 14 of which ended in victory.
City saw closest challengers Liverpool close to within six points of them over the weekend, having played one game less, and Pep Guardiola will be demanding an immediate response from his players on Merseyside.
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Guardiola once again stressed how difficult it is to defend the title in England's top flight, but insists his team will continue to press on in the final 12 fixtures in the hope of retaining their crown.
"It's normal [to lose]. Especially in the Premier League. The teams at the bottom won all their games [this weekend]," the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference.
"Everyone fights for everything so it will be difficult. We know it. Today happened, we lost a game, we were close to a draw, maybe a win. Congratulations to Tottenham.
"We will recover this week and onto the next game. We have to fight for every game and every game we will try to win. We have to make a lot of points to be champion and that is what we will try to do."
The Toffees slumped to their 13th loss of the campaign with a 2-0 reverse to Southampton at St Mary's on the same day.
It was Frank Lampard's second defeat in three outings since replacing Rafael Benitez at the helm last month and the Merseysiders find themselves just four points above the relegation zone in 16th place.
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Lampard admits their form on the road needs to improve drastically and added that there are other issues to address on the training ground as well.
"We've felt an uplift in the team since I have been here but it's not good enough to be good at Goodison and not good away from home," he said.
"When the game turned on us, the players didn't show enough to get back in it. That is my biggest disappointment and has to be addressed.
"It will take time, there is not a magic wand from the position when we came, to say, now we are resilient and can play through pressure all the time. There are issues I saw clearly today that we have to work on."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Everton - 0
Man City - 5
Draws - 0
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