Though Manchester City are no longer top, a run of eight straight home Premier League (PL) wins, with City scoring 2+ goals each time – and a winning margin of 2+ goals in seven of them – suggests that this weekend will see them bounce back with a vengeance after last week’s loss at Chelsea.

City have scored 2+ goals in all of their last 19 PL home victories against teams outside the current top six. Indeed, last season’s corresponding fixture was the first of just two occasions (both draws) since August 2017 that City have scored under 1.5 PL goals at home against a non-top six side.

While not the ‘bogey team’ they used to be for City, Everton have still scored first in three of their last four PL matches against the English champions (W1, D2), and last lost a league match against City, after scoring first, back in May 2014.

Conceding first against City is always bad for Everton’s chances of victory though. The Merseyside club’s H2H record from the last five matches in that category reads: D1, L4, and they last came from behind to beat City way back in May 2011.

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