Man City chairman's message resonates as Guardiola aims to end Everton duck

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is looking to beat Everton at the Etihad for the first time in his three seasons in charge

For all the grief Liverpool have caused Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager has rarely enjoyed himself against the other half of Merseyside.

The 4-0 defeat at Goodison in January 2017 was - together with Leicester a month earlier - the nadir of his first season in charge, a point where the gap between what he wanted and what his players were capable of was humiliatingly exposed.

And while tearing through Sam Allardyce's team last season went some way to making up for that, Everton remain the only side to have played two Premier League games at the Etihad against Guardiola and not lost.

The Toffees journeyed down the M62 in August 2017 in City's first home game of the campaign and very nearly left with three points before Raheem Sterling rescued a point. The domination of the home team coupled with an inability to score and frailty in defence left the coach despondent and fearing a repeat of his first year in charge, according to club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

"I remember sitting with Pep after the game and Pep was crushed," he said.

"I remember talking to him that day trying to pull his spirits up and I said 'Pep it's not going to be the same as last year.'

"But when I said that could I have imagined we would end up with 100 points and 106 goals? No, but that was a low that ended up a high."

The chairman's words are worth thinking on as City look to make it third time lucky against Everton on the back of their first league defeat since April.

So dominant have the Blues become that Saturday's loss was accompanied with several helpings of shock, and however much Guardiola insists that nothing has changed in the title race that game at Stamford Bridge will surely end up hugely significant even if the how is yet to be discovered.

With a growing injury list, City had seemed physically weary for the last fortnight and the manager also hinted that the pressure and expectation on the leaders had also weighed on the defending champions. Any Invincibles chat can be shelved a whole month earlier than last season when Liverpool became the first team to beat the Blues in the league.

City's response? Dropping just seven points from their remaining 15 games to end on an astonishing 100 points.

Jurgen Klopp's men, having proven themselves to be fantastic chasers this season, must not show their prowess out in front in what is a very different kind of pressure. Now that the Blues are no longer seen as unbeatable, the scrutiny will amplify on their rivals.

All City can do is keep pace at the top, and while the Chelsea defeat is destined to count for something at the end of season it can only be a good thing if Everton do not get a mention in the chairman's annual address.