Preview: Everton vs. Manchester City

Manchester City will put transfer business to one side when they travel to out-of-sorts Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Citizens are busy working on a deal to bring Swansea City striker Wilfried Bony to the Etihad Stadium and are believed to be close to sealing a £30m move.

The Ivorian, who will be unavailable during January due to the Africa Cup of Nations, scored more Premier League goals throughout 2014 than anybody else.

Even Sergio Aguero, who, along with Vincent Kompany and Edin Dzeko, remains injured for the champions, cannot better his tally of 20 for the calendar year.

City are also missing Bony's compatriot Yaya Toure, who scored the only goal in December's reverse fixture, for the trip to Goodison Park, where they have lost on four of their last five visits.

Roberto Martinez's side, however, do not seem to be in the mood to cause an upset this weekend, with Tuesday's 1-1 FA Cup draw with West Ham United coming on the back of a four-match losing streak.

Their poor festive form has seen the Toffees almost eliminated from the top-four race before they were even in it. They currently sit 13th and 15 points adrift of the final Champions League qualifying place.

A lengthy injury list is doing Martinez no favours, with Sylvain Distin joining the likes of James McCarthy, Leon Osman, Steven Pienaar and Tim Howard on the sidelines after sustaining a groin strain.

Leighton Baines hopes to return to feature on Merseyside after picking up a knock in the 2-0 New Year's Day defeat to Hull City, while Antolin Alcaraz is back from suspension to provide defensive cover.

Aside from a couple of alterations to the backline, Martinez could stick with the same lineup, including Ross Barkley playing behind Romelu Lukaku, who kept Everton in the cup with his stoppage-time equaliser.

City needed their own late intervention to avoid a third-round replay against Sheffield Wednesday as James Milner scored both goals in a come-from-behind 2-1 win. He should be rewarded with a start at Goodison.

Elsewhere there could be six changes made by Manuel Pellegrini, with Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Fernandinho, David Silva and Samir Nasri all returning behind lone striker Stevan Jovetic.

The Wednesday match was indicative of how City have lived dangerously over Christmas, having surrendered a two-goal lead at home to Burnley and nearly did the same the following week against Sunderland.

However, the Blues remain undefeated in 13 games in all competitions and will climb above Chelsea to the top of the Premier League table, if they better their result at home to managerless Newcastle United.

Everton:

Form in Premier League: LWLLLL Form in all competitions: WLLLLD

Possible starting lineup: Joel; Coleman, Jagielka, Stones, Baines; Barry, Besic, Mirallas, Barkley, Naismith, Lukaku

Man City:

Form in Premier League: WWWDWW Form in all competitions: WWWWDW

Possible starting lineup: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Clichy; Fernando, Fernandinho; Nasri, Silva, Milner; Jovetic

Sports Mole says: 1-2