Chris Sutton
BBC Sport football expert

Manchester City are finding everything difficult at the moment, including creating chances and scoring goals, but I still think it is just a matter of time until they come good again - they have to.

There is so much noise around City at the moment, about what is going wrong, but this is still a game they should win.

Everton have kept clean sheets in five of their past six games but they got thumped the last time they came to Manchester - at the start of December, when they lost 4-0 to Manchester United.

I think they will lose at Etihad Stadium too.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Rory Smith
Chief Soccer Correspondent for The New York Times, on BBC Radio 5 Live

All the excuses, the mitigating circumstances, are all legitimate. But they are the factors you explain Man City being in a battle for the title, for being ninth in the Champions League table. They do not explain the worst run of form in the top five leagues in Europe - that is not down to players being tired. If Rodri was healed by some Christmas miracle and played on Boxing Day, I don't think that would solve everything.

City's season more likely will become about trying to win the Champions League - if they have players back fit in March or April, you would not rule them out.

Chris Sutton
BBC Sport football expert on 5 Live's Monday Night Club

I predicted Manchester City to win the title - they cannot win it now, and it's not even Christmas. We are at the point where you can't see them turning it around. Their wheels are coming off spectacularly.

I don't think City will finish in the top four, their drop off has been so great. It's an imperfect storm, that all these players at once are not performing. This drop-off is astonishing, and there is nothing in recent performances to suggest they will come out of it.

Everton are next, and in recent times they have been pretty stubborn.

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That's 18th v 21st in the Championship - a huge chance for either side to move away from the drop zone.

Guillem Balague
Spanish football journalist for BBC Sport

Pep Guardiola has never protected his players so much. He has not criticised them and is not going to do so. They have won everything with him.

Instead of doing more with them, he has tried doing less. He has sometimes given them more days off to clear their heads, so they can reset - two days this week for instance.

Perhaps the time to change a team is when you are winning, but no-one was suggesting Man City were about to collapse when they were top and unbeaten after nine league games.

Some people have asked how bad it has to get before City make a decision on Guardiola. The answer is that there is no decision to be made.

Maybe if this was Real Madrid, Barcelona or Juventus, the pressure from outside would be massive and the argument would be made that Guardiola has to go. At City he has won the lot, so how can anyone say he is failing?

Yes, this is a crisis. But given all their problems, City's renewed target is finishing in the top four. That is what is in all their heads now.

You can read more from Guillem here.

Guillem Balague
Spanish football journalist for BBC Sport

Pep Guardiola has also been giving it a lot of thought. He has not been sleeping very well, as he has said, and has not been himself at times when talking to the media.

He has been talking to a lot of people about what is going on as he tries to work out the reasons for City's demise. Some reasons he knows, others he still doesn't.

What people perhaps do not realise is Guardiola hugely doubts himself and always has.

He will be thinking "I'm not going to be able to get us out of this" and needs the support of people close to him to push away those insecurities - and he has that.

He is protected by his people who are very aware, like he is, that there are a lot of people that want City to fail.

Manchester City

We'll be hearing from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola at around 12.30 GMT today, previewing their Boxing Day game against Everton.

Manchester City have lost nine matches in their past 12 - as many defeats as they had suffered in their previous 106 fixtures.

At the end of October, City were still unbeaten at the top of the Premier League and favourites to win a fifth successive title. Now they are seventh, 12 points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.

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Bournemouth

Bournemouth fan Jeff Hayward, from ‘Back of the Net podcast’, speaking on BBC 5 Live's Monday Night Club: "This team has been cooking since about game 10 last season. We are a good side, teams should be taking more notice.

"The start of last year, we had a tough start. Now we are seeing the benefit of working with the team for so long - we're not afraid of anybody. The fans could see flashes, it would be great when it clicked, and now we are having the season of our lives.

"We are under the radar, so it is not about instant results. You get that patience from the fans to turn it around and do your own thing. And the Premier League is much more fun with clubs like ours punching above our weight.

"We have a chance of Europe this season, the first half has gone phenomenally well. And if we were more clinical, we would be breathing down Liverpool's neck."

Bournemouth

Currently one of the happiest sets of supporters in English football will be the fans of Bournemouth, following their 3-0 win at Manchester United on Sunday - the second successive season they have triumphed by that score line at Old Trafford.

Andoni Iraiola's team are fifth in the Premier League, just three points off the Champions League places.

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Steve will indeed be hoping Wayne Rooney's Plymouth Argyle can find a first three points on their travels this season on 26 December.

Plymouth are bottom of the Championship at Christmas after giving away a lead three times to draw 3-3 with Middlesbrough in their most recent match.

Image source, BBC Sport

Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter

Ruben Amorim’s successor at Sporting, Joao Pereira (pictured), is set to be replaced by Rui Borges for Sunday’s Lisbon derby with Benfica.

There has been no official word from Sporting but sources with an understanding of the situation say Pereira will pay the price for a downturn in results just seven games after replacing Amorim.

Sporting were top of the Portuguese league, in the top eight of the Champions League and had won 15 out of 16 matches when Amorim quit to join Manchester United last month.

Pereira stepped up from the reserve team but Sporting have won two and lost four of their matches since.

Benfica have leapfrogged them in the league and they have dropped to 17th in the Champions League.

Sporting are negotiating Borges’ exit from Vitoria Guimaraes.

Image source, Getty Images

West Bromwich Albion

La Liga strugglers Valencia have made an official approach for West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan.

Two separate sources have told BBC Sport and BBC Radio WM that talks are currently ongoing between the clubs, although a deal is yet to be finalised.

However, Valencia are said to be willing to pay the 41-year-old Spaniard's release clause at Championship club Albion, believed to be in the region of £3 million.

The Spanish club sacked head coach Ruben Baraja on Monday after just two wins in 17 league matches this season.

Former Huddersfield Town boss Corberan was appointed by the Baggies in October 2022, leading them to a ninth-placed finish in his first season and fifth last term, as they lost to eventual winners Southampton in the play-off semi-finals.

He has guided Albion to seventh place in the Championship table this season, just outside the play-off places on goal difference, despite claiming his playing budget had been reduced by 30%.

Image source, Getty Images

Rory Smith
Chief Soccer Correspondent for The New York Times, on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club

Liverpool should be considered favourites, but that is not the same as saying it is theirs to lose - they have only played 16 games. It is far better than anyone expected, but there is no need to have a sense that if they don't win, they have bottled it. I don't think that's fair.

Liverpool had drawn a couple of games and had another called off, the gap had whittled down as it natually will. Arsenal had got a big win, and it felt like a test - if you are serious, you have to go and win. And the first half felt like they are serious, they have got the energy and drive they need to win the title.

Listen to Monday Night Club here.

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Chris Sutton
BBC Sport football expert on Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club

Liverpool will have a blip, but what was remarkable about them on Sunday was they looked really refreshed, dynamic and powerful. The scoreline flattered Tottenham, it could have been double figures.

Nobody saw this coming. Top of the Champions League, top of the Premier League, it does not look like they are going to stop.

Following their thumping 6-3 win at Spurs on Sunday, Liverpool will be four points clear at the top of the Premier League on Christmas Day.

But it is far from guaranteed that they will be top come the final whistle of the 2024-25 campaign. In 32 previous Premier League seasons, 16 Christmas leaders have won the title. It's a 50-50 shot.

Image source, BBC Sport