Everton V Man City at Goodison Park - Match Preview

Everton boss David Moyes hopes his team can catch title favourites Manchester City on an "off night".

Moyes' side have an excellent record against City, particularly at home, having lost just one of the last 13 Barclays Premier League meetings between the sides at Goodison Park.

Yet Moyes feels City's dramatic recent rise renders a lot of those statistics as irrelevant and is hoping the leaders' difficult January continues.

City still hold a three-point lead at the top of the table but have gone out of both domestic cup competitions since the turn of the year and been without some key players.

Moyes said: "I think all sides will go through periods of difficulty during a season and Man City are probably just in a bit of that at the moment.

"They have lost a couple of boys to the African Nations Cup and there have been a couple of disciplinary things which they see haven't gone their way.

It can sometimes just upset the rhythm at the club.

"Let's hope it is upset because we are going to have to hopefully catch them on an off night and us play very well.

"Over the years we have always had quite a good record against Manchester City.

"The difference is they have improved, and they have improved from last season. You can see that from their league position.

"Their players have got better, there is more belief, more understanding playing alongside each other.

"We are coming up against a far better, far greater Manchester City side than even we played last year."

Moyes expects his team - trailing in a lowly 14th place, 28 points behind City - to compete fully as they did against them in the reverse fixture last September.

He said: "We lost 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium but I thought we played quite well on the day.

"We limited them up to 75 minutes. We didn't have many attacking options to cause them many problems but at that time they were scoring freely.

"We lost a goal when we gave the ball away in the middle of the park then they scored in the 90th minute to make it two and (Marouane) Fellaini had one kicked off the line in the last minute."

Everton's form ahead of the contest is indifferent with just one win from their last six in the Premier League.

The Merseysiders have also managed just three wins from their 11 home fixtures.

They at least go into the game in good heart after seeing off Fulham 2-1 with a hard-working performance in the FA Cup fourth round last Friday.

Moyes said: "We are in the next round of the FA Cup. It doesn't always matter how you get through, you just want to get in.

"Hopefully, if there is any way it helps us towards the league, then great. You can never tell but hopefully the result gives us a bit of confidence."

Shane Duffy could continue in central defence in the absence of Sylvain Distin (hamstring) and Phil Jagielka (knee) although fit-again veteran Tony Hibbert is an option.

City boss Roberto Mancini admits the on-going future of Carlos Tevez ahead of the close of the transfer window is an unwanted sideshow prior to an important Premier League encounter with Everton.

"[On Monday night] we go to sleep, [Tuesday] we wake up and we have a game," he said.

"That is the most important thing for us between now and [Tuesday] night."

With Mario Balotelli serving the second game of a four-match suspension and Yaya and Kolo Toure on African Nations Cup duty with the Ivory Coast, Mancini is relieved to have skipper Vincent Kompany available again.

The Belgium skipper has missed four matches since his controversial dismissal against Manchester United at the beginning of the month.

However, he is now free to assume the captain's armband and replace youngster Stefan Savic, who retains his manager's support despite some high-profile mistakes during Kompany's absence.

"Stefan is a young player and when you are young, you can be in trouble for nothing," said Mancini.

"Stefan should be quiet. He is a good player but he needs to improve."

Kompany is the real deal though, one of the best in Europe in Mancini's eyes.

"It is important to have Vincent back," he said. "He is a strong defender, who has improved a lot in the last two or three years.

"He is a leader and our captain, one of the best defenders in Europe now and someone who can still improve a lot."

Source: PA

Source: PA