Mancini expects tough clash with Everton

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini heaped praise on Everton ahead of their meeting at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Everton continue to punch above their weight, consistently challenging for European qualification despite the club’s well-publicised financial constraints.

City’s circumstances could not be further removed from Everton’s, spending hundreds of millions of pounds to assemble a squad capable of winning the English Premier League.

Despite the vastly superior resources at his disposal, Mancini expects a stern challenge when City tackle the Everton side of David Moyes.

“Everton is, for me, one of the best teams in the Premier League because they are a strong team,” Mancini said.

“They work from the first minute until the 93rd minute.”

“And although they sold (Mikel) Arteta, they still have good players. For me, they have really good players.”

City lost their 100 percent start to the league season when they drew 2-2 away to Fulham last week, surrendering a two-goal lead at Craven Cottage.

Mancini felt his team would inevitably suffer a drop in standards after their flying start to the campaign, but was nevertheless frustrated after they failed to grind out a victory.

“It’s impossible to always play well in all the games that you play,” he said.

“Sometimes it is important to win when you don’t play well.”

“But in Fulham we played very well for 60 minutes because we dominated the game.”

“But there are some moments in the game where you need to defend better because the other team try to score, try to do something in some games for this.”