Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has hailed Everton as one of the Premier League’s most formidable opponents ahead of their trip to Goodison Park tomorrow evening.
Guardiola was quick to point out the challenge Marco Silva’s Blues pose by saying: “They’re an incredible team, top manager. It’s one of the toughest games you can play during the season, we know it. We’ve prepared, the players know how difficult it is.”
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The two-time Premier League winning coach did, however, put a pragmatic spin on the difficult trip to Merseyside and called for a positive showing from his team.
“Against Tottenham we shoot more and we didn’t score," he continued. "Against Watford it was five shots and five goals.
“There’s no perfect performance, I’m not looking for it. Just try to play good and then I’m satisfied.”
Manchester City come into the game experiencing several injuries to their defence with centre-backs Aymeric Laporte and John Stones both ruled out for prolonged spells earlier this month.
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However, Guardiola vowed to put his trust in youngsters Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwood Bellis if required saying: “I knew they [Garcia and Harwood-Bellis] were ready. They train with us, they play with us. If they weren’t ready they wouldn’t play with us.”
Manchester City head to Goodison Park five points off the league summit and are looking to keep pace with league leaders Liverpool who currently sit top of the Premier League.
