Frank Lampard can repeat history against Pep Guardiola to help Everton secure a big result

Burnley’s shock 1-0 victory over Tottenham on Wednesday night only heightened the fear of relegation among Everton fans.

The win for the Clarets put them up to 18th and just two points behind Everton in the table.

Sean Dyche’s men could leapfrog the Blues this weekend should results go their way, meaning Frank Lampard’s side could well find themselves in the relegation zone by the end of the weekend.

Everton will aim to avoid this fate by keeping matters in their own hands, though to do so, they’ll have to try and overcome a wounded Manchester City team that will be eager to bounce back.

City will travel to Goodison Park looking to avoid suffering consecutive league losses for the first time this season following last week’s 3-2 defeat to Tottenham.

However, the Toffees don’t have a great record against their Manchester counterparts, losing each of their last eight head-to-head league clashes.

Everton optimism going into the clash will understandably be low, particularly given the dominant record Guardiola boasts over English managers, winning 24 of his last 25 meetings with them.

However, it is worth noting that Lampard was actually the one English boss who managed to get the better of Guardiola.

That particularly poignant 2-1 win over City came back in June 2020 when he was in charge of Chelsea, and it was the game that officially saw City lose their Premier League crown to Liverpool.

In that clash, Lampard got his tactics absolutely spot on. He played a 4-3-3 formation and looked to make the middle areas compact and tough for City play through.

This is key because although City can punish you in the wide areas, the talent they have in the middle of the pitch through players such Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan can