Daichi should unleash the 'huge' Everton ace who will join the Man City squad

Everton She's been on a pretty solid run in Premier League Recently, they have started picking up crucial points in their battle against relegation. She has candy He lost one of his last six matchesA modest 4-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

However, beyond that, they were diligent defensively. In their last six matches, they have only conceded those four goals against Ruben Amorim's side Clean sheets in the other five matches.

Despite being very low in the table, they have been healthy defensively and have kept teams away, including Chelsea and Arsenal, in their last two matches.

With the next match against Manchester City, they will hope to maintain this good defensive level.

Everton's defensive record in 2024/25

It is not common for relegation-threatened teams to have good defensive records. This season is a perfect example of that. The bottom three clubs are leaking goals so far, with Wolves conceding 40 goals, Ipswich Town 32, and Southampton 36. While Leicester City, ranked seventeenth, conceded 37 goals.

So, in that sense, toffees are massive anomalies. According to SovascorThey have scored the third fewest goals in 2024/25 so far, conceding just 21 goals in 17 matches. This means that the average number of goals conceded per match is only 1.2 goals.

This is helped by the fact that Jordan Pickford, once again, is having a memorable season. He was always there for Sean Dyche men, Keeping seven clean sheetsincluding these two against London giants Chelsea and Arsenal. As Liverpool Echo journalist Joe Thomas saidIt is in “fantastic condition”.

Perhaps what makes the Toffees' defensive record even more impressive is that they don't even concede many chances. According to FBrefThey have an expected goals tally of only 21.3 xGA. This ranks them sixth in the First Division.

Credit must go to Dyche, Pickford and the defenders in front of him, who all contributed to their impressive record. Jarrad Branthwaite He has impressed once again and is certainly a player Manchester City could deal with.

Branthwaite's stellar season

While Everton have been flying high of late, the same cannot be said for Pep Guardiola's City side. They have won only one of their last 12 games, He conceded 27 goals in that time,unfathomably poorly run.

Earlier in the season, after a 3-3 draw at home to Feyenoord in the Champions League, in a game in which they were 3-0 down, there was particularly harsh criticism from Alan Shearer tells Amazon Prime viewers “They look weak, they look light, they look weak” in defence. Obviously this hasn't improved much since then.

But Branthwaite has been classy this season. The 22-year-old suffered an injury at the beginning of the season, but has since regained full fitness. He played 90 minutes at Everton The last six Premier League matcheswhich coincides with this strong range of form.

He was almost flawless against both Arsenal and Chelsea in their 0-0 draws, both excellent results for Everton.

Liverpool Echo's post-match player ratings saw him score 7/10 on both shows. Against the GunnersThe defender was praised for his good performance in a “resolute defensive display”. Against the bluesA “fantastic” tackle on Cole Palmer was noted.

Branthwaite's form appears to have returned to the high level we saw in the 2023/24 season when Described by football statistician Dave Statman As a “huge” defender. He's a big reason why Everton have been doing so well defensively recently, and it's no coincidence that this run has come at the same time he's been well fit.

Daichi should start against the Nationals. The form Branthwaite has shown against some of the most threatening attacking teams in the Premier League recently has been too good to ignore, and he will be essential to keeping City out.

His current form is so good that he will probably join Guardiola's team, and he can really help them a lot and stop this run of bad form. Fortunately for Everton, he will be playing in royal blue rather than sky blue, and will be hoping to contribute to another big result as they look to climb the standings.