Pep Guardiola and star-studded Man City play Everton between two matches with Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals
Everton has been warned there will be no drop-off from Manchester City even if Pep Guardiola decides to shuffle his pack for their Premier League showdown on Sunday afternoon (2 pm).
A trip to Goodison Park comes in between two Champions League semi-final matches with Spanish giants Real Madrid for star-studded City and Guardiola will have to be mindful of the quick turnaround when naming his starting line-up. Rotation, though, is something the Catalan has form for throughout his City tenure.
Guardiola made six changes from the team that beat Leeds United for the first leg against Real but resisted any urge to make substitutions at the Santiago Bernabeu in what was a compelling opener. City are ready to welcome Real to the Etihad Stadium for the second leg straight after playing Everton.
With that European semi-final evenly poised, City has just over 72 hours between their next two games as they continue to plot treble success. But while that hints at further changes for the Everton meeting, Joleon Lescott reckons that is something the Premier League champions will routinely handle at crunch time this campaign.
“No one’s getting dropped, no one feels like they’re out of it for any spell because they’re playing for so much and there’s so much at stake. If you look at the last game [against Leeds] he made six or seven changes, but them players know they have to win and have to perform.
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Five Premier League clubs, like Everton and Leicester, who looked too good to go down
West Ham had the talent and they appeared to have points. Not so. Forest had Brian Clough; Leeds had recently been in the Champions League semi-finals.
With Everton and Leicester facing the very real threat of relegation, we looked at the fortunes of five other clubs who were thought to be too good to go down. Leeds aside, it bodes well for a swift return if Sean Dyche becomes the first Everton boss in 72 years to be relegated…
Nottingham Forest, 1993
Why did they go down? Brian Clough’s Forest finished eighth the season before and they began the campaign by beating Liverpool in the first-ever Premier League match broadcast on Sky Sports. But the scorer of their winner that day, Teddy Sheringham, was sold along with Des Walker and Forest went into free fall.
They won two from 21 after the opening day and were rock-bottom by New Year. Forest rallied with five wins in seven but it was a fleeting revival. Clough had run out of answers and before their relegation was confirmed in the second-to-last game of the season at home to Sheffield United, the Forest legend’s retirement was announced, bringing down the curtain on an incredible managerial career at the City Ground in desperately ill-fitting circumstances.
How did they react? Once Clough had received the send-off he deserved, Forest appointed Frank Clark and set about returning to the top flight. They had to make do without Roy Keane, who was sold to Manchester United for a British transfer record fee. But Clark retained most of Forest’s Premier League squad while adding Stan Collymore, David Phillips, and Colin Cooper.
Forest made relatively light work of their season in the second tier. They finished runners-up behind Crystal Palace but with a nine-point cushion between themselves and those made to endure the play-offs.
What happened then? Never a dull moment at Forest through the ’90s.
Forest initially thrived back in the Premier League. They finished third in 1994-95 with 77 points and qualified for Europe. Then dropped to ninth the following season, before plummeting back to the bottom of the pile in 1997. Then they won the Championship. Before finishing bottom of the Premier League for the third time in seven seasons. They will at least avoid that fate this season.
Middlesbrough, 1997
Why did they go down? Because they literally didn’t turn up for a game at Blackburn.
Boro has docked three points after they insisted they were unable to field a team at Ewood Park because of an injury and illness crisis. The FA wasn’t having it and punished the Teessiders by stripping them of the points that ultimately would have saved them from the drop.
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