Manchester City v Everton: Premier League – live | Premier League

43 min: Foden is clipped by Mykolenko, just to the right of the Everton box. A free kick in a very promising situation for City.

42 min: Doku drops a shoulder to zip past Young, then cuts back for Ake. A shot. Straight in some poor opponent’s mug. But it helps Everton to clear.

41 min: Some patient City possession.

39 min: Everton have done well enough to quieten the City crowd. It’s suddenly fallen a bit flat. “The game is like Chinese torture,” suggests Jeff Sax. “We all know City will score, but it takes so long.”

37 min: Harrison rolls McNeil into space down the left. McNeil whips a low cross through the City box, but Calvert-Lewin can’t connect. Everton come again down the right, Young crossing from a tight spot near the corner flag. Calvert-Lewin isn’t able to flick a header goalwards at the near post, but the ball breaks back to Harrison, who slices a shot wide left and high from 12 yards. A difficult chance, but a chance nonetheless.

36 min: But for how long? Nunes nearly gets on the end of a speculative pass down the right, only to be denied by Pickford, blocking on the edge of his area.

35 min: Alvarez dribbles hard down the inside-left channel and looks to have got the better of Godfrey. The defender keeps battling, though, and though he concedes a corner, he’s drawn a foul as well. The whistle goes and Everton get the free kick. A chance for a welcome breather.

33 min: … but City are beginning to pin Everton back now. Doku looks super-dangerous again down the left flank. He reaches the byline but once again a game of pinball doesn’t go City’s way.

32 min: Foden shoots through a crowded box. Some bagatelle. Everton just about clear their lines.

31 min: The corner leads to nowt.

30 min: Harrison slides a pass down the inside-right for Calvert-Lewin, but the striker can’t get there in time and Ederson clears. City counter immediately, Foden slipping Nunes into space on the right. Nunes, in looking for Haaland in the centre, wins a corner instead.

28 min: Then City go up the other end, Doku again making ground on the left. His looping cross is too high for Haaland, who can only ping a header miles over the bar and wide.

27 min: Calvert-Lewin was earlier roughly manhandled by Dias, the City defender getting away with it. Now the boot’s on the other foot, as the striker wrestles his opponent to the ground, winning a free kick nevertheless. All a bit odd, but a good tussle nonetheless. Everton load the box, but McNeil’s delivery of the set piece is no good.

25 min: Foden is fine and didn’t complain, it should be stressed. Play restarts and Doku makes good down the left after leaving Godfrey in the dust. His low fizzing cross is calmly intercepted by Branthwaite then cleared by Tarkowski.

23 min: Foden chases after a ball down the left only to be unceremoniously slide-tackled by Tarkowski. That’s straight out of the old school, and Foden goes rolling off the pitch and down a ditch. Tarkowski trots off in a satisfied manner.

21 min: Pep is agitated. He’s in his technical area, fretting. He wants his players to take it up a notch.

19 min: Haaland spins into space and sends Alvarez on his way down the left channel. Alvarez thinks about crossing for Foden at the far stick, but tries a curler towards the top-right corner instead. Blocked. Doku picks up possession and has another go. That’s blocked too.

17 min: City stroke it around in Evertonian territory, but not with their usual vim. Everton hold their shape, and it’s stalemate.

15 min: Stones and Akanji combine to gift possession to Harrison, who slips Calvert-Lewin away down the middle. Calvert-Lewin has McNeil scampering into acres of space to his left, but instead tries to float a chip over Ederson. It’s not really on, in truth, and he miscues wildly anyway. A chance to send McNeil free into the box passes by.

13 min: The game is taking a while to warm up again after that stoppage.

11 min: … but after a quick shake of the head to blow away the cobwebs, he’s good to continue.

10 min: Ederson sits up but looks a little groggy. He took a couple of whacks in the face as Godfrey competed for the ball.

8 min: … and now Harrison slips a clever ball down the inside-right channel to spring Godfrey into the box. Ederson comes out to claim, but only just in time, and Godfrey is within his rights to slide and compete for the ball. The keeper comes off worse in a tangle, and on comes the trainer.

7 min: Everton suddenly start playing. Some cute triangles down the right, Harrison dictating terms. Then the ball’s switched to Mykolenko on the left. The eventual cross is too long for Calvert-Lewin in the middle, but that’s promising play from the visitors.

5 min: Stones creams a pass down the right for Nunes, who can’t quite get the better of Branthwaite. The defender shepherds the ball out of play calmly.

3 min: Alvarez swings the corner into a crowded six-yard box. Pickford does extremely well to rise above everyone and punch clear. But City are immediately back at Everton, Foden and Haaland exchanging crisp passes down the inside-right channel. They eventually run the ball out for a goal kick, but this is a confident start by City.

2 min: City are on the front foot quicksmart. Foden probes down the right a couple of times. Nothing doing there yet, so the hosts switch it and Doku wins the first corner of the afternoon on the left.

1 min: An immediate whack upside the head for McNeil, and play is stopped. His own man Branthwaite at fault there. Thankfully he springs up quickly and is good to continue.

City get the ball rolling. “I reckon just about any result here is a result for Liverpool supporters,” writes Grant Tennille. “Though realistically, while there may be banana peels scattered amidst City’s fixture list, it doesn’t feel like this is one of them.”

The teams are out! Manchester City wear their storied sky blue, forcing Everton into second-choice orange with distressed blue pinstripe. Hey Jude pumps out of the stadium speakers; given City’s outstanding home record, perhaps the Rutles would be more appropriate? We’ll be off in a minute.

Let’s take a quick delve into our pre-match postbag, which is teeming with correspondence from folk appreciative of our sterling efforts. “Bloody Guardian predicted line-ups!” begins Dean Kinsella. “Just dropped Doku from my fantasy team as he was ‘gonna be on the bench!’ He’ll probably get a hat-trick now.”

Richard Hirst adds: “Very kind of you to leave Fulham out of the list of teams hoping Man City will do them a favour; seems very misguided however. On recent form, and forthcoming fixtures, we are definitely in nervously looking over our shoulders (TM) territory.”

Sean Dyche celebrates his 300th game as a Premier League manager today, and he speaks to TNT. “I’m pleased with that because it’s tough to get into the Premier League as a coach or manager anyway, so to have that longevity I’m pleased with that … a lot of my staff have been with me … unfortunately I’ll not be on the sidelines today which is a shame, but that’s the way it goes … I’ll be mic’d up, trying to communicate the best as possible … our away record has been good this season … our clean sheet record is good … they’re a top side … but our mentality has been strong away from home so we’ll try to put in a good performance and see where it takes us.”

Pep Guardiola talks to TNT Sports. “We have a tough schedule and need to get the best from the players who have come back from injury … we are quite solid in terms of the way we are playing … we have to be careful … we have a lot of games … everybody has to be involved … [the Premier League] is really good … there are proactive managers … it is amazing … I am one yellow card away to be suspended for two games … in modern football the referees are really protected!”

Manchester City make four changes to their starting XI in the wake of the 3-1 win at Brentford. John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Matheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku replace Kyle Walker, Josko Gvardiol, Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva, all of whom drop to the bench.

Everton select the same XI that started the 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur this time last week. Amadou Onana returns from injury and is named as a sub.

The teams

Preamble