Matchday Updates

Everton host Manchester City at Goodison Park this afternoon hoping to spring a surprise on the reigning champions and reignite their Premier League season.

Calvert-Lewin leads the line with two changes from the last Premier League game. Walcott starts om the right with no place for Bernard who is out sick. Iwobi and Kean are on the bench. Schneiderlin, Coleman and Sigurdsson, who have yet to impress this season, keep their places.

Andre Gomes and Jean-Philippe Gbaman remain long-term injuries for Everton, while former Blue, John Stones, is also out injured for Man City.

The visitors got things started bedecked in lurid puce and sick-coloured strip, Mahrez firing in on Pickford, with Delph trying to block, Walcott going down after taking a hard cross to the head, for an extended period of treatment. Walcott did not recover and had to be stretchered off, Iwobi brought on in his place after a long stoppage.

De Bruyne got behind the Everton defence but Mina was in strongly to snuff out the danger. Defences were largely on top in some early exchanges, Coleman, then Sterling having their advances blocked.

A ball cleared poorly by Mina out to Marhez was crossed in very dangerously for Gundogan to finish but incredibly he hit the bar from 2 feet as City piled on the pressure. At the other end, Richarlison drew a soft foul just outside the City area, Digne lashing the ball over rather poorly from what was likely to be a rare set-piece opportunity.

Richarlison did some great work to steal the ball off Sterling but Everton could not retain possession. The Blues were too easily pinned back by a very high press. Sterling waltzed through the Everton defence but no-one anticipated his gift at the end of it, City toying with an increasingly dominated Everton side who could not get out of their own half.

Mina was across well to defend at the expense of the first corner, but no danger. Everton tried to play out from behind, resorting to the long ball with Calvert-Lewin offside from his own head-on.

A great interception and some fine ball movement should have seen a goal for Sigurdsson, his sidefoot straight at Fernandinho. And so right back to the other end via Mahrez skipping past Digne and Jesus scores off a brilliant ball in from De Bruyne. Sigurdsson had another chance immediately after the restart, firing straight at Ederson.

A great run by Coleman stopped with a disappointing reverse ball from Digne just as Everton looked to break through but a quick turnover and Mahrez is suddenly firing at Pickford. Everton had some possession but failed to use it to any real effect, while City structured another shot at Pickford.

Some faster passing by Everton and, when it looked to have broken down, some determination in the area gave Coleman the chance to clip the ball in for Calvert-Lewin to finish with a nice diving header right on the line.

Richarlison was very strong to break down the right but Calvert-Lewin failed to return the ball to him as he was fouled by Rodrigo, who went into Micahel Oliver's book. Richarlison could only head the free-kick weakly at Ederson. But Everton showed some good effort, trying to play through the weakened City defence. A great ball over the top by Iwobi, but Sigurdsson could not do anything with the high ball.

After a good spell for the Blues, City settled things and started to threaten again, with Richarlison again doing well, but Jesus got in wide left and lashed over, as Mina cuffed Sterling running across him. Added time of 6 mins for Walcott's treatment saw better shape from Everton that thwarted some strong City attacks but a lack of care with the ball failed to prevent key turnovers, Gundogan eventually firing at Pickford. Honours even at the break.

Everton restarted but another beautiful exhibition of movement, pace, ball control and accuracy was worth a City goal, the final shot blocked well before it beat Pickford.

Otamendi body-checked Calvert-Lewin to his cost. Sigurdsson swung in a decent-enough cross but Rocharlison got too far forward to head it effectively. Richarlison did well again to win a free-kick off Zinchenko, Digne delivering well and Mina was free but headed too strongly into the ground for Ederson to fingertip the ball over on the bounce. From the corner, Everton were almost exposed but the pace of the game was intense.

Sterling almost got in close but Keane was there to shepherd him away from goal. But Everton were holding their own and occasionally threatening, in a relatively open and lively encounter. De Bruyne was unhappy with Schneiderlin's dreadful late challenge, which earned only a yellow card for the Frenchman. A fantastic ball in Mahrez seemed to put Sterling in acres behind the Blue line but he slotted wide as Pickford advanced well.

Richarlison again suckered in Zinchenko. Sigurdsson swung in a good ball but it was just too crowded for any Blues head. Coleman almost played in De Bruyne. as the game seemed to hang delicately in the balance, a goal from either side set to make or break Blues hearts.

A City corner was worked around and eventually behind as Pep sought to, er, pep things up for the visitors, who were again looking to dominate, Jesus replaced by Aguero. City worked it well but Sterling's coup de grace was foiled by five players blocking his shot. De Brune picked out Sterling again but he failed to strike.

Mina fouled De Bruyne, getting booked, and it was a nailed-on set-piece for the visitors, Mahrez lashing it perfectly, low into the far corner, a brilliantly worked free-kick through a two-man wing wall — what an object lesson for Marco Silva.

Everton were almost level soon afterwards though when Sigurdsson played Calvert-Lewin in but the Everton forward's touch was poor and Ederson was quickly off his line to got a vital touch that diverted it wide for a corner that Digne delivered poorly, straight to the first defender.

The Blues went close again from another corner a minute later, won by Kean, when Mina rose highest to guide a header towards the bottom corner but the keeper denied him and Calvert-Lewin couldn't react quick enough to get the rebound on target.

Everton kept up the pressure with Coleman surging down the right but Sterling got back to block the cross and Mina's header from the resulting corner dropped comfortably to Ederson.

Tom Davies came on for Schneiderlin for the last 10 minutes but Everton were carved open again as Mahrez twisted in the box, Aguero's cross-shot was diverted away by Pickford's foot but it fell to Sterling who hammered it in off the underside of the crossbar, bouncing just behind the line for the killer 3rd goal.

Davies was always looking forward and played a brilliant ball to Sigurdsson, whose control let everyone down. Davies then tried another tasty ball for Richarlison, slightly overhit with time running out. Kean did very well to hold up a difficult ball and win a late corner.

In added time, Pickford was drawn out by a deep cross and lost the challenge with Silva but there were only blue shirts defending with Pickford out of it when the cross came in.

The game ended with Richarlison ready to burst forward, Everton having given a good account of themselves overall, except where it really mattered in converting shots to goals.

Scorers: Calvert-Lewin (33'); Jesus (24'), Mahrez (70'), Sterling (85')

Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Mina [Y:70'], Digne, Schneiderlin [Y:59'] (81' Davies), Delph, Walcott (7' Iwobi (74' Kean)), Sigurdsson, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs not Used: Là¶ssl, Holgate, Sidibe, Tosun.

Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Otamendi [Y:50'], Fernandinho (C), Zinchenko, Gundogan, Rodrigo [Y:38'], Mahrez, De Bruyne (80' Bernardo Silva), Sterling (86' David Silva), Jesus (66' Aguero).
Subs not Used: Bravo, Mendy, Cancelo, Foden

Referee: Michael Oliver

Attendance: 39,222

Michael Kenrick

Match Preview

Everton host Manchester City at Goodison Park this afternoon hoping to spring a surprise on the reigning champions and reignite their Premier League season.

With the pressure mounting following three defeats in four, including losses to newly-promoted Aston Villa and Sheffield United, the Blues were boosted by victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, but the resumption of the league campaign will return the focus on the need to start winning matches and keep alive the club's hopes of finishing in the top six come May.

Given Everton's recent struggles and City's superiority, there's a temptation to write this game off or at least not be all that concerned about the result and look to the trip to Burnley next weekend as a better barometer of how well Marco Silva's men are responding to their early-season set-backs.

There is plenty to be gauged from how the team goes about their business against this type of opposition, however, and as an injury-hit Norwich ably demonstrated earlier this month, Pep Guardiola's side are by no means infallible.

They can be devastating from an attacking perspective, however, and with Everton disappointingly porous so far this term, that will be a concern, particularly as City put eight past Watford last Saturday while the Toffees failed to register at all against Sheffield. Still, this is a match that an on-song Everton can win and title race be damned at this early stage.

At the back, Michael Keane is expected to return to partner Yerry Mina after being rested in the cup on Tuesday and even though he hasn't been in the best of form so far this season, Seamus Coleman's experience should get him the nod over Djibril Sidibé, despite the Frenchman impressing at Sheffield Wednesday, particularly going forward.

Along with Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Silva is still without André Gomes in midfield who continues to recover a rib injury that has kept him out of the last three matches. That would ordinarily mean the manager having to choose between Morgan Schneiderlin and Tom Davies but his team selection for this fixture in February, one designed to cope with City's dynamic midfield threesome, suggests that both the Frenchman and the young Englishman could be involved alongside ex-Citizen, Fabian Delph.

That would mean a front three, Silva's preferred formation, and, in all likelihood, Gylfi Sigurdsson starting on the bench, with Alex Iwobi and Richarlison the likely to play either side of the chosen striker. Silva has chopped and changed at centre-forward to a maddening degree and, after Moise Kean was chosen to start the match against Sheffield United and Dominic Calvert-Lewin led the line at Wednesday, the latter could get the nod on the basis of his well-taken brace at Hillsborough.

Where Calvert-Lewin's usefulness has often been his hard running, physical presence and aerial ability, Kean's greater mobility — or even that of Cenk Tosun, for that matter — in and around the box might favour him against the less conventional central-defensive partnership of Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho.

While Everton have struggled against teams employing the low block and been depressingly vulnerable at set-pieces, City's more open style and preference to play free-kicks and corners short to work the ball in on the floor means that the Blues should ensure that his is a very different contest to the one against the Blades.

There will almost certainly be opportunities at one end but Everton will have to be at their very best defensively to keep the top flight's most prolific attack at bay.

Kick-off: 5:30pm, Saturday, 28 September 2019
Referee: Michael Oliver
Last Time: Everton 0 -2 Manchester City

Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Mina, Digne, Delph, Schneiderlin, Davies, Iwobi, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin

Lyndon Lloyd

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