City 0 Everton 2

Not exactly riding the wave of euphoria following the derby win as we crashed back down with a defeat against a side we could ill afford to slip up against in view of how tightly congested the European positions are at the moment.

Sven decided to keep faith with those players who had served so well against United, with Corluka and Elano kicking their heels on the bench, but whilt Sven appeared pleased that we had a break last weekend, Everton played in between and I feel that we perhaps lost some momentum with the lay off.

A fair bit has also been written about our tactics, and that we are not ideally suited to chasing a game - more in control with the game being 0-0 or 1-0 up, and much like at Goodison Park earlier in the season we failed to create meaningful or incisive chances and got caught at the back.

Give some credit to Everton where it is due though as David Moyes has assembled a useful side the past few years - not panicking or throwing cash around wantonly, but building a good base and then adding the likes of Cahill, Johnson, Yakubu and Pienaar gradually to the side and like Sven said post-match, it does look in all probability that it will be a fight between the two Merseyside clubs for that final coveted Champions League position.

Although there are still eleven games left, it has put a serious dent in the Champions League hopes and we have a big fight on our hands to get a UEFA spot following Tottenham grabbing one of the available three spots with their Carling Cup win over Chelsea last weekend.

Competition is fierce amongst ourselves Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Blackburn and even West Ham, and a team will need to go on an impressive run over the final quarter of the season, although looking at our remaining eleven fixtures highlighted over at purelymancity, it does not appear (on paper at least) the toughest of run-ins overall.

We will though, need to find that winning streak again sooner rather than later.

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