City Storm Everton in Title Push

The Premier League resumes this weekend after a two-week halt due to the international break

Manchester City travel to Everton for this evening kickoff needing just two more wins to clinch this season's Premier League title. Pep Guardiola has failed to defeat the Toffees in three attempts during his time in England, and his opponents are one of just four teams to have taken points off the champions-elect this season.

Sam Allardyce was always going to have a tough time reversing Everton's fortunes after inheriting Ronald Koeman's beleaguered side last November.

Although his arrival sparked a brief upturn in form that helped the Blues pull away from the relegation zone, the honeymoon period is well and truly over and calls for the former England manager's head have been growing louder in recent weeks.

In fairness to Allardyce, the Toffees' home form has picked up since he took charge, with only Manchester United leaving Goodison Park with maximum points during his tenure.

That said, they have been dire on the road for the most part, but ended a run of five straight away defeats the weekend before last with a 2-1 victory at Stoke City.

That win prevented Everton from racking up six away defeats on the spin for the first time since the dark days of the Mike Walker era in 1994, and coupled with a home victory over Brighton & Hove Albion the week previous, helped the Blues sign off for the international break on a high note.

While a run of four wins in the last seven outings has helped consolidate Everton's position in the top half of the Premier League table, large sections of their fanbase seem keen to see the back of Allardyce, and the latest reports suggest that he could make way for Shakhtar Donetsk head coach Paulo Fonseca this summer.

This seems somewhat unfair considering the unbalanced mess he inherited from Koeman, and the fact that the Blues are just three points away from seventh place ahead of their clash with City, but perhaps their league placement says more about the inconsistency of the teams above them than Everton's progress under Allardyce.

Everton have the fifth-worst defence in the league and their goal haul is nothing to shout about, averaging 1.19 strikes per game, but they have won 13 points from losing positions this season, a joint-high with Bournemouth.

A surprise win against City would keep Allardyce's men on course for a backdoor spot in Europe via a seventh-placed finish, but even that might not be enough to save his job given his unpopularity among Evertonians.

City will be eager for a win at Goodison as another three points will give them the chance to wrap up the Premier League title against their local rivals Manchester United in front of their own fans on April 7.

While clinching the trophy on derby day would be special indeed, Guardiola's side will still be on course to win the league in record-breaking style if they fail to defeat Everton.

The Citizens have dropped points just four times in their opening 30 league matches, and like Everton, they will line up at Goodison fresh off the back of a victory against Stoke.

City have not played since that win three weeks ago, but several members of Guardiola's squad were in action for their countries during the international break, and the rest took part in a training camp in Abu Dhabi.

Before the break, the Sky Blues collected an impressive 19 points from a possible 21 since losing at Liverpool more than two months ago, but their away form in 2018 has not been as sparkling as the table suggests.

This calendar year has seen them held at Burley and Crystal Palace, as well as that loss at Anfield, although the victory over Stoke was their second on the spin away from home.

Another variable to consider is that City are in action in the Champions League against Liverpool just four days after their showdown with Everton, although the squad depth at Guardiola's disposal makes fixture congestion less of an issue.

Whatever happens at Everton, City are almost guaranteed to finish at the top of the pile this season, with a 16-point lead over second-placed United, but no doubt they would hate to blow the chance to set up a crunch title-clincher at the Etihad next week.

Meanwhile, Chelsea will look to keep alive their top-four aspirations when playing host to Tottenham Hotspur in the pick of this weekend's Premier League fixtures.

The Blues boast an impressive record against their London rivals at Stamford Bridge, but they head into the match on the back of a disappointing run of form and are in need of victory.

The two-week break has given defending champions Chelsea a chance to regroup following a hugely inconsistent start to 2018, which has seen them fail to win back-to-back matches in the Premier League.

Their title now relinquished, the Blues are left desperately fighting for a top-four spot in the league and requiring success in the FA Cup to salvage their season. Even that, though, may not be enough to save Antonio Conte's job in West London.

In fact, if reports are to be believed it is now just a matter of weeks until Conte is given his marching orders by demanding owner Roman Abramovich, who is said to have already lined up Luis Enrique to take over from next season.

Adding the FA Cup to last season's Premier League crown - won with a record number of wins, remember - would not be a bad way for the Italian to bow out, though there is no doubt that the Blues have been hugely underwhelming in the top flight throughout 2017-18.

Right from the opening game of the season, when going down 3-2 to Burnley, Chelsea have seemingly been just one bad result away from a crisis, and Conte's long goodbye now appears to be entering its final stages.

Winning just seven of 18 matches in 2018, two of those via extra time or penalties, has seen the Blues drop out of the top four and exit the Champions League, leaving them with a maximum of 10 games to save face.

Chelsea's big game record has also been disappointing, having failed to win any of their last four matches against the big six, including back-to-back defeats at the hands of Manchester United and Manchester City a month ago.

The manner of the loss at City was particularly hard to take for supporters, with the Blues almost settling for a one-goal defeat, and now Conte must quite simply send out his players to attack Tottenham and reignite his side's top-four hopes.

While Chelsea have struggled for momentum over the past few months, Tottenham have lost just two of their last 25 matches and are in a strong position heading into this match.

Mauricio Pochettino famously said earlier in the season that the FA Cup is well down his list of priorities, though following the Lilywhites' cruel Champions League exit, winning domestic silverware is now surely a priority.

Finishing in the top four is a prerequisite for any domestic success, though, and as things stand it is Tottenham who are the strong favourites to edge out Chelsea for that final Champions League berth.

Liverpool in third are only two points better off than Spurs after playing a game more, too, so victory at Stamford Bridge this weekend and all focus can turn to the huge FA Cup semi-final with Man United in a few weeks' time.

The manner of the 3-2 aggregate defeat to Juventus may have been tough to take for Spurs, having dominated much of the last-16 tie, but Pochettino will be delighted with the response shown by his players following that latest setback in their quest for some form of silverware.

Bournemouth put up a fight but were eventually brushed aside, while Swansea City offered up far less resistance in the FA Cup ahead of the international break - Spurs running out comfortable 3-0 winners in that match, without the services of injured striker Harry Kane.