Forget Liverpool, Everton need to do themselves a favour by beating Manchester City

‘Win on Saturday against City and Liverpool are in the driving seat for the title’ - forget it.

Win on Saturday against Manchester City and Everton can give their Premier League survival chances a huge boost, pulling five clear if results go their way and remaining out of the bottom three if they don’t.

Defeat at Goodison could so easily put the Toffees in the bottom-three with Burnley away at Crystal Palace and Newcastle United away at Brentford.

Frank Lampard’s side are in a relegation fight and their status as the longest-standing team in the top-tier of English football is under serious threat.

So rivalries need to be put on the back burner and Everton need to prioritise their own survival.

Harness the Goodison crowd

Everton’s home and away form since the arrival of Lampard has been night and day.

His first game - a 4-1 FA Cup win at home to Brentford - and his dominant 3-0 win at home to Leeds were perfect examples of the energy and quality that this side possess when the surroundings are right.

But the defeats that followed both wins - away at Newcastle and Southampton - were stark reminders of why Everton are where they are.

Lampard has spoken of the problems with mentality and confidence, of failing to turn the tide when the game is against them, but a near-40,000 capacity Goodison has a role to play.

Toffees poor record over City

It should come as no surprise that Everton’s recent record over Manchester City does not look promising.

They have lost the last nine meetings with Guardiola’s men in all competitions, failing to score a single goal in the last three.

The City manager has won 24 of 25 meetings with English managers - although that one defeat came at the hands of Lampard’s Chelsea.

Look to Spurs for a way to win

Tottenham Hotspur’s win at Manchester City last weekend offered an insight into just how to beat Guardiola’s side.

Antonio Conte went to the Etihad with a game plan which his men pulled off perfectly, thanks mainly to a world-class number-nine performance from Harry Kane.

It wasn’t just that Spurs beat City, it’s that they deserved to do so based on their gameplan - and it’s a gameplan Lampard should be looking to on Saturday evening.

Defensively, Spurs used a back-three/five and focused on using the wide centre-back to shut off the spaces so successfully taken up by the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan.

Spurs’ counter-attacking play won them the game, however, and the skill of Kane dropping deep and playing in pacey wingers likes Heung-Min Son or switching the play to the onrushing wing-backs opened up City.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is more than capable of playing that Kane role and Everton have plenty of pace at their disposal in wide areas like Anthony Gordon or Richarlison.

If Everton are to win on Saturday then it will likely be as a result of the game plan deployed so perfectly by Conte.

But the focus should be on Everton. Not on Liverpool.