All the talk at the bar here in the Tavern these last few weeks has been about Pep Guardiola and his apparent struggles so far in England.

The former Bayern and Barcelona manager has not found life quite as easy as he did in Spain or Germany, and his Man City side have struggled for any sort of consistency thus far.

There is little doubting though that Guardiola is a man with a plan, and one of the games great tacticians. City’s dismantling of West Ham in the FA Cup provided a stark reminder of the quality they have in their ranks, and a repeat performance against Everton this week would go down a treat.

Our landlord has little doubt that Guardiola and his City side have enough in the tank to beat Everton this weekend.

With that in mind, here’s THREE things we think Guardiola needs to do to brush aside Ronald Koeman’s Everton today…

Dominate the possession

If there is one thing which a Guardiola team is well known for, it is dominating the ball and suffocating the opposition.

To beat Everton, the Spaniard will need to ensure his team are astute in possession and stop Everton getting hold of the ball themselves to supplement their counter attacking style of football.

If City do this, it is hard to see Everton being able to cope with the quality City possess.

Stick with the same team

One thing which you could aim at Pep this season for a criticism is his tinkering of the first eleven on a regular basis.

The team which played against West Ham was in devastating form, and the set up got the best out of a reinvigorated David Silva, who was at the heart of all City’s attacking play.

Guardiola would be wise to stick with what worked, and try and build some consistency into his squad in terms of line-up, performances – and crucially – results.

Nullify Everton’s full backs

Everton’s strength over a number of seasons now has been their wide play from both Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman.

Both full backs are brilliant going forward and if Ronald Koeman’s men are to have a big chance of winning the game today, both Coleman and Baines will need to be on form.

City will be hoping to stop the threat from both flanks and Guardiola will no doubt have done some in depth homework on a plan to stop this threat.