Can Everton rebound after Fulham defeat as they take on Manchester City

After a dreadful performance and 2-0 loss to Fulham on Sunday night, Everton welcome the Premier League leaders Manchester City tomorrow night.

A repeat of that awful performance against City could see Everton getting beaten by six or seven goals. The Toffees were outplayed and deservedly defeated by a Fulham team that was previously struggling in the bottom half of the Premier League.

It was a performance that reminded us all of those bad days in past seasons when the Blues would capitulate with frightening ease. The same thing happened again on Sunday.

The schizophenic nature of this Everton team is increadibly frustrating and I fear it will end up undermining the season and could cost the Toffees European football at the end of the season.

I think if the Blues don’t manage to qualify for Europe this season it will be a disaster. To continue to make progress the club must have secured genuine tangible improvements, which is key to attracting better players and thereby building on that momentum.

I’ve writtten about how I think that Carlo Ancelotti’s constant shuffling of personel and formations isn’t helping create the necessary stabiltiy for success. But the players themselves are not immune from criticism of course for their complete lack of commitment and determination.

So given all that I don’t know what team Ancelotti will pick tomorrow. I hope too that the manager returns to a more solid defensive foundation. I want to see a return to the back four that has worked so well recently and from which Ancelotti has recently strayed.

Presumably Allan will come back into midfield probably in place of Tom Davies although he has played well in the last three matches. I’d play Lucas Digne on the left of midfield so reverting to a sort of 4-4-2.

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Up front I think Ancelotti has got to ensure the team have enough pace and penetration. So if Dominic Calvert-Lewin isn’t available, which is very likely, then he should pick Josh King alongside Richarlison.

At the time of writing, it’s also not clear whether James Rodriguez will be fit to start. If he’s not then Alex Iwobi should take his place on the right.

As for City, they are of course in scintillating form and are starting to run away with the Premier League. After a faltering start they have won the last sixteen matches in succession, an English domestic record.

They have also only conceded a single goal in the Premier League (in their brilliant 4-1 win at Liverpool), since defeating Chelsea 3-1 on the 3rd of January! That’s a truly scary level of defensive excellence.

One of the key reasons for this outstanding performance is the re-birth of ex-Everton player John Stones, who has rediscovered the sort of form and indeed even better, that first saw him secure a big money move to City.

All this makes Everton’s task tomorrow seriously daunting. It’s very hard to see the Blues getting anything from this game although ironically of course the Toffees have performed better generally against the better sides. Well we shall see if they can.