Manchester City could benefit from the return of aggressive defender Abdukodir Khusanov against a troublesome Everton outfit on Saturday, Citizens expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole.
The 21-year-old joined Man City for a reported £33.5m from Lens in the January transfer window and has since played nine times for Pep Guardiola's side, including six Premier League starts.
However, Khusanov has watched on as an unused substitute in each of City's last three games, with Guardiola preferring Josko Gvardiol alongside Ruben Dias at centre-back, while Nico O'Reilly has enjoyed a run in the team at left-back.
The Citizens kept back-to-back clean sheets in Premier League clashes with Leicester City (2-0) and Manchester United (0-0), but they looked defensively vulnerable in a 5-2 win over Crystal Palace last weekend, a game in which Guardiola's side were trailing by two goals in the opening 21 minutes.
McInerney would not be surprised to see Guardiola make some changes to his starting lineup for Saturday's top-flight trip to Everton and he would like to see Khusanov return to the heart of City's defence.
Khusanov, Nunes, Savinho to be recalled by Guardiola?
"I'm expecting maybe a couple of changes," McInerney told Sports Mole. "Maybe Khusanov will come back into [the starting lineup]. It's the kind of game where I think Khusanov could be really useful with his recovery pace because there's going to be mistakes in this. I think a little bit of his aggression defensively could be really useful.
"Don't be surprised if we see Gvardiol back at left-back. I think Nico O'Reilly, as great as he is on the ball going forward, I think Guardiola might want a bit more experience out wide. O'Reilly's been great, but I think Guardiola will just want a few more natural defenders in the side.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it's Gvardiol, Dias and Khusanov (in defence), then maybe [Matheus] Nunes with his physicality comes back in (at right-back), even though I thought Rico [Lewis] was actually pretty decent against Palace."
McInerney also expects Guardiola to tweak his team in the final third, adding: "I do think we'll probably see Savinho come back in. I think Guardiola will just sort of take on the transition a little bit more. I know Everton will be quite defensive, but I think he'll just switch up how we play a little bit.
"I don't know if he'll do what he did against Palace, where it felt that [James] McAtee and [Omar] Marmoush were both playing as inverted false nines at times, with [Kevin] De Bruyne just going where he wanted. I think it'll be a little bit more simpler than that. McAtee will probably feel like he deserves a start actually after a good game, but I don't think he'll get it."
While McInerney is optimistic that Man City will claim a positive result against Everton to boost their Champions League qualification hopes, he has backed the Toffees to score at Goodison Park and believes that David Moyes's resurgent side will cause the Citizens "trouble" this weekend.
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"Everton are almost certainly going to score"
Only four Premier League teams have accumulated more points than Everton (21 - W5 D6 L2) since Moyes was re-appointed Toffees boss in January, and his team have not lost any of their last six at home, drawing each of their last four against Liverpool, Man United, West Ham and Arsenal.
Everton also drew 1-1 at Man City in the reverse fixture at the Etihad in December, while the Merseysiders head into Saturday's contest in high spirits on the back of claiming a surprise 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest last time out.
"Everton are almost certainly going to score," said McInerney. "The weaknesses that we've got, I don't think they're fixable right now.
"I think there's a lot of hesitancy in [City's] defence and I think a resurgent Everton, especially after the Forest win... People like [Iliman] Ndiaye, [Abdoulaye] Doucoure, [Jack] Harrison, [Armando] Broja, they'll cause us trouble, of course they will because they're really good footballers and they're playing under Moyes.
"Moyes and Everton is a match made in heaven. They love each other there. I think they will cause us trouble.
"Everton are a good side, [but] I still think we'll win. I'm not expecting it, [but] I don't feel we'll lose. I think there might be a draw on the cards potentially... I think we'll get a point or three, but I don't think we're going to lose this game. I think we'll be okay. We should be able to get some points on the board."
Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion ahead of Man City's trip to Everton.
Oliver Thomas
