Pep Guardiola may have already hinted at Man City plan for 'toughest' Premier League fixture at Everton

Manchester City are halfway through a Champions League semi-final against the toughest opponent in Europe, face rivals Manchester United in a huge FA Cup final, and have high-flying Brighton and free-spending Chelsea among their remaining opponents in the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola, though, sees struggling Everton as the toughest game in City's fixture list between now and the end of the season, having mentioned Goodison Park on multiple occasions to illustrate that nothing has been won yet despite plenty of treble talk.

It's notable that Guardiola has regularly referred to the upcoming game at Goodison, rather than against Everton, and a look at Guardiola's record on the Blue side of Stanley Park suggests why he has every reason to be apprehensive over this weekend's latest visit.

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On the one hand, City are unbeaten in 12 meetings with Everton, winning ten times, since 2017, and have won on all six visits to Goodison Park in that spell. The last defeat, however, was Guardiola's lowest point as City manager and his worst-ever loss in charge.

The 4-0 reverse in 2017 clearly hasn't been forgotten, and despite the unbeaten record since, the last few meetings with Everton have been far from straightforward. Earlier this season, City dominated at the Etihad but conceded to Demarai Gray's stunner and dropped two points on New Year's Eve.

Last year, Phil Foden's winner came in the 82nd minute at Everton, and Liverpool fans remain furious that Rodri's ball control in the area wasn't punished as handball earlier in the game. The year before that, City's 2-0 win came courtesy of 84th and 90th minute goals, and it wasn't until 77 minutes in the 2021 FA