Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas expects Carlo Ancelotti will make wholesale changes to his plans in Everton’s New Year’s Day trip to Manchester City.
Ancelotti’s Blues will board the bus to the Etihad Stadium on the wave of two wins in two games under the Italian, as we stretched our unbeaten streak to five Premier League matches in the post-Marco Silva era by winning 2-1 at Newcastle United on Saturday.
The boss named a very attacking line-up at St. James’ Park with Dominic Calvert-Lewin leading the line alongside Moise Kean, and joined with support on the wings from Richarlison and Theo Walcott.
But Nicholas does not feel it would be possible for Ancelotti to go to Manchester City on New Year’s Day and name the same XI against the champions as he did against the Magpies, as Pep Guardiola’s Citizens would have a field day if he does.
“Everton are showing some good signs for Carlo Ancelotti,” Nicholas noted in his column for Sky Sports. “Dominic Calvert-Lewin has found a goalscoring reputation.
“It was so attack-minded with Theo Walcott and Richarlison alongside Calvert-Lewin, with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Tom Davies in behind them [against Newcastle].
“The defence is not the best, so they have to be on the front foot, but good luck with that at Manchester City, with the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero in attack.
Does Ancelotti need to change his starting XI?
Yes
No
“Man City are in the mood to get back to second and get the belief back that they can close the gap [to Liverpool] a little. Ancelotti will change his style to accommodate the game, but this will be a convincing Man City win.”
Ancelotti made a raft of changes from his first Everton line-up when we beat Newcastle at the weekend, with Seamus Coleman, Yerry Mina and Bernard dropped from the side that edged a 1-0 win over Burnley on Boxing Day.
Richarlison was also moved out wide at St. James’ Park to accommodate for Kean, having featured at striker at home to the Clarets, while Leighton Baines was brought into the starting XI to replace Lucas Digne.
In other Everton news, Ancelotti has confirmed that he will be without a midfielder when we face Manchester City, but hopes he can feature at Liverpool on Sunday.