Paul Wilson was our man at Goodison. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM!
FULL TIME: Everton 1-3 Manchester City
And that’s that! City close the gap at the top to five points, though they had to work hard for the win. Everton sit in 15th spot, just a couple of points above the bottom three. But their much-improved display this evening will surely have bought Marco Silva a little time and goodwill. Won’t it?
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90 min +4: Pickford races out of his area and is beaten to the ball by Bernardo Silva, who can’t quite steer it into the empty net. Pickford smiles wryly, causing Sky co-commentator Gary Neville to burst a blood vessel. “Why is he laughing?! He should have saved City’s second goal and he’s nearly cost his team a fourth!” Never change, Gary.
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90 min +3: Everton win a throw deep in City territory down the left. Digne flings it long. It’s easily cleared.
90 min +2: Bernardo Silva is sent clear down the left by his namesake David. He tries to float a chip over the stranded Pickford but sends the ball over the bar. Ah, he was offside anyway.
90 min +1: Kean does exceptionally well to keep a long ball down the right in play, then earns a corner. Nothing much happens at the set piece, so all that hard work was for nought. Everton’s evening in microcosm.
90 min: There will be a minimum of four added minutes.
89 min: A bit of space for Sigurdsson, 25 yards out. But he can’t control and the ball squirms through to Ederson. The keeper, so often a virtual spectator, has really had to do his bit today.
88 min: What character City have displayed today. They’ve not been at their best, giving up a tranche of chances, but they’ve dug in and this is going to be a huge three points. That rare thing: a win they’ve had to fight for.
86 min: Sterling departs a hero. He’s replaced by David Silva.
GOAL! Everton 1-3 Manchester City (Sterling 84)
Mahrez dribbles with great purpose down the right. Aguero takes over near the byline and crosses. Pickford kicks away, but only to Sterling, six yards out, Sterling nearly misses, leaning back and blootering the ball off the underside of the post. But itbounces down and over the line. Game over!
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83 min: Mina once again rises highest, but sends a tame header straight at Ederson, who looks fine after that injury scare.
82 min: Some neat work by Kean out on the right. He flicks Coleman away. Coleman reaches the area, but pauses and allows Sterling to get back at him, and block his attempted cross out for a corner.
81 min: Schneiderlin is replaced by Tom Davies, who has form against City.
80 min: Bernardo Silva comes on for De Bruyne. Before the match restarts, Ederson needs some treatment, having hurt his hand making that save, though he looks fit to continue.
79 min: ... Mina so nearly scores. He rises highest in the box and heads down towards the bottom left. Ederson gets a strong hand to the ball and pushes it out right. What a save! Calvert-Lewin, from an offside position and a tight angle, shanks the ball out for a goal kick.
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78 min: This match is still being played at 101 miles per hour. A lot of scrappy challenges going in. It’s a bit of a mess again, but that might suit Everton, not least because it’s got the crowd going again. Kean barges down the right and wins a corner. From which ...
76 min: Nearly! Nearly! Sigurdsson clips a pass down the inside-left channel to release Calvert-Lewin into the area. Calvert-Lewin looks to clip over the advancing Ederson and into the net, but the keeper spreads and deflects the ball away with his thigh. The resulting corner is a whole load of nothing.
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75 min: Iwobi is replaced by Kean. The substitute substituted, though he was on so early that surely doesn’t count as the usual embarrassment. Can Everton come back a second time?
74 min: And all of a sudden, City look much calmer and happier within themselves. Aguero skitters in from the left wing and launches a heatseeker towards the top right. It’s inches away from planting itself in the corner. That would have been one hell of a goal.
73 min: City exploded in collective joy after that free kick. Seems silly to say when September’s not even out, but that could prove a big goal in their title defence.
GOAL! Everton 1-2 Manchester City (Mahrez 71)
Mina is booked for a fairly basic clatter into De Bruyne. He can have no complaints. It’s a free kick just to the right of the D. Mahrez takes and curls one into the bottom left! It’s perfectly placed, though Pickford should at least have got a hand on it.
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69 min: Walker, deep on the right, crosses for Sterling, who times his run to get clear of the Everton back line. But in attempting to chest down, he only cushions the ball back to Pickford. Sterling might have been offside anyway, but the miss caused him much angst.
68 min: Aguero drops deep and fizzes a pass down the left for Sterling, who exchanges passes with Gundogan and cuts infield. But Everton hold their shape. City probe again, and a cross is half-cleared to Sterling on the edge of the box. For a second it looks as though there’s time to get a shot away, but he’s quickly submerged in a sea of royal blue. Everton block and clear.
66 min: Gundogan goes tearing towards the Everton defence and slips Jesus free with a pass down the inside right. But Jesus went too soon, needlessly so, and the flag goes up. It’s Jesus’ last act of the evening, as he’s replaced by Sergio Aguero.
64 min: City win a corner down the left. The set piece is worked this way and that, and eventually leads to Mahrez ballooning a cross into the stand behind the goal. On the touchline, Pep throws semaphore shapes of great discontent.
62 min: Zinchenko clumsily bundles Richarlison to the ground. Gundogan is on hand to clear the resulting free kick. Then Coleman nearly sells Pickford short with a hospital backpass, but the keeper gets there just in time, ahead of Jesus, and hoicks clear. This match is a shapeless mess, and great entertainment as a result. Pep, that lover of control, must be doing his nut.
60 min: Mahrez, quarterbacking 35 yards out, slips Sterling clean free into the box with a lovely sliderule pass down the middle. Sterling pokes past the outrushing Pickford ... but well wide right! What a miss. Goodness. This match is quite something. Good luck predicting how it ends.
59 min: Schneiderlin scythes through De Bruyne, who was jinking elegantly down the left. That’s an appalling act of cynicism, and the Everton player is correctly booked. De Bruyne is livid, though, wagging his finger in Schneiderlin’s face. Schneiderlin slaps his hand away a couple of times. For a second, it looks like it’s about to kick off bigstyle, but the referee calms it down.
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58 min: This is a great match. Both teams are really going for it, both teams are backing themselves. So it’s a glorious end-to-end affair. This surely can’t end 1-1.
56 min: The resulting corner sees City tear away en masse on the break. The move breaks down, and Everton counter the counter. Richarlison chases a ball down the right and is kicked in the face by a falling Fernandinho. An accident, though Fernandinho was definitely making sure he got his body in the way of the Everton striker, so there was a level of cynicism in the challenge. Luckily for City, the referee sees nothing in it. We play on.
54 min: Zinchenko shoulders Richarlison in the back, and out of play on the right. He’s fortunate to escape a booking. But this is a set piece in a dangerous position. Digne whips it in viciously. Mina should score, free, from six yards, but he heads down and allows Ederson to tip over. What an opportunity. A fine reactive save, but he should never have been allowed to make it.
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53 min: Both teams are snapping into the tackles right now. This match hasn’t been bad tempered, the Sterling-Mina rumpus apart. But it might not take too much to ignite the atmosphere.
51 min: Otamendi is booked for a cynical check on Calvert-Lewin, who was making good down the right. A free kick and a chance for Everton to load the box. Sigurdsson whips it in. Richarlison meets it, ten yards out, but can’t keep his header down. The ball flies harmlessly over the crossbar.
49 min: City have come out with renewed vigour. Mahrez slips De Bruyne into the box on the right. Digne dives in rashly. De Bruyne could easily have instigated contact and gone over, but instead of looking for a cheap penalty, he stays on his feet and hammers a shot ... into the side netting. Lucky Digne. And credit to De Bruyne for his sporting approach to life.
47 min: City hog the ball in the early exchanges of this second half. Pass, pass, passity, pass. Then suddenly De Bruyne fires a crossfield ball to Sterling out on the left. Sterling finds Gundogan in the box, and for a split second, there’s a route to goal. He opens his body and sidefoots towards the top right, but Keane closes the door at the last second and Everton clear. That would have been a quite lovely goal.
Here we go, then. Everton get the second half underway. No half-time changes.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Everton 1-1 Manchester City
Football’s a game of two halves, and that was a half of three thirds. City dominated at the start and at the end. In the middle, their defence allowed Everton back into the game. You’d still have City as favourites to grab the win in the second half, but Everton will fancy their chances of an upset as well. Poised nicely for the second half, in other words.
45 min +5: Mahrez crosses deep from the right. Sterling wins a header at the far post, but he’d been tugging away at Coleman’s shirt. Everton have done so well to get back into this game, but they need to hear the half-time whistle because City are beginning to build up a head of steam again.
45 min +4: Sterling whistles a low cross through Everton’s box from the left. There’s nobody there in Fruit Salad. The ball’s recycled from the right wing, then Rodri tees up Gundogan, who shoots towards the top right. Pickford is in the right place to gather.
45 min +2: Sterling curls one in from the left. Mina does just about enough to put off Jesus, who was looking for a second headed goal. Pickford claims.
45 min: There will be six additional minutes, a legacy of Walcott’s early injury.
44 min: So having said attacking wasn’t so easy for City now, they put together a lovely move. Mahrez and De Bruyne work the ball right to left. Mahrez slips Jesus in, down the flank. Jesus blazes the ball over the bar with only Pickford to beat. Wild. In the centre, Sterling and Mina tangle, before exchanging views sharply. It all calms down quickly enough.
43 min: Sterling probes down the left, but all of a sudden attacking isn’t quite so easy for City as it had been during the opening 25 minutes or so. He’s turned back up the flank and away from danger.
41 min: Everton suddenly look a different team - and City are giving up chances. Iwobi, making his presence felt in the middle of the park, floats a simple ball forward, and suddenly it’s dropping towards Sigurdsson, scampering through the huge hole between Fernandinho and Otamendi! He should probably attempt to head over the onrushing Ederson, but opts for a swivel and scissor kick instead, and that allows the keeper to sort the situation out.
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39 min: Rodri is booked for bundling Calvert-Lewin to the ground in the midfield. He took one for the team there, because Everton were on the rampage, a move started by a fine burst from Richarlison down the right. The resulting free kick leads to nothing.
37 min: Credit to Everton, who responded so positively to the opening goal. They’re giving City a game now ... and the crowd are getting into this. A magic atmosphere at Goodison.
35 min: City could easily have been three or four up. But now look! City’s soft centre has been exposed again. Coleman’s dink would have gone in anyway, but a striker’s a striker’s a striker, and you wouldn’t have expected Calvert-Lewin to do anything else.
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GOAL! Everton 1-1 Manchester City (Calvert-Lewin 33)
Sigurdsson crosses from the right. Fernandinho slices his clearance straight to Iwobi, who bustles on the penalty spot. The ball is shoved right to Coleman, who from a tight angle draws Ederson and chips delicately over the keeper! Calvert-Lewin makes sure by Keith Houchen-ing the ball into the net, just before it crosses the line. Well, well!
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32 min: Pickford flaps at De Bruyne’s right-wing cross. Sterling picks up the pieces and tees up Mahrez on the edge of the area. Mahrez should do better than send a pea-roller into the hands of the grateful keeper.
31 min: Keane tries to release Coleman down the right with a pass along the channel. He thunks it straight out of play for a goal kick. The crowd groan, and groan loud.
29 min: To be fair to Everton, they’re asking City some questions up the other end of the park. Sigurdsson plays a high ball into the box from the right, forcing Ederson to punch clear in a slightly panicked fashion. But then City go up the other end and nearly score a second, Sterling slipping a pass to Mahrez down the right, Mahrez shooting low and hard, Pickford getting in the road and turning the ball away.
27 min: Fernandinho is dictating the game from the back. He sprays a delightful pass towards De Bruyne on the left wing. De Bruyne takes his eye off the ball and it slips under his foot and out of play. Had he been concentrating, he’d have been in an awful lot of space. Everton need to take care here, because they could be on the end of a hiding if they’re not careful.
26 min: Everton try to hit back immediately, Sigurdsson launching a low fizzer towards the bottom left from 20 yards. It stings Ederson’s hands, and the keeper spills, but Iwobi can’t get to the loose ball before the keeper reclaims.
GOAL! Everton 0-1 Manchester City (Jesus 24)
Mahrez knocks the ball past Digne on the right and tears after it. He lays off to De Bruyne, who wedges gracefully towards the far post, where Jesus gets ahead of Keane and Mina and heads simply past a sprawling Pickford from six yards. It had been coming.
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23 min: Digne crosses from the left. Sigurdsson tries to sidefoot into the bottom right, but his effort is instantly blocked by Otamendi. City’s defence nearly exposed.
22 min: Mahrez looks in the mood today. Fernandinho hits long. Out on the right touchline, he kung-fu kicks a first-time pass towards De Bruyne in the PlayStation style, and very nearly releases his team-mate. Nearly. Not quite. So nearly something very special.
20 min: Walker is sent wheeching down the right by Mahrez, and earns himself a corner off Mina. Everton have conceded 20 goals from set pieces since the start of last season, the worst record in the division. They don’t embellish that here, the resulting corner a bit of a non-event. But the sense that it’s just a matter of time before City open the scoring is palpable.
19 min: City have been coming at Everton in a manner most relentless. So there’s a bit of relief for the home side as De Bruyne uncharacteristically sends a long pass, intended for Sterling on the left, out of play for a goal kick. And breathe.
17 min: Sterling isn’t so shabby on the other wing, mind. He was quite sensational against Preston in the League Cup, and now he’s tormenting Coleman on the left wing. He reaches the byline and fires a low ball across the face of goal. Mina, facing the wrong way, does extremely well to swivel and clear off the line. Especially when you consider that earlier shank.
16 min: Fernandinho picks out Mahrez down the right with an exquisite long pass. Digne does just enough to stop him racing into the box and achieving goodness knows what. Everton are all over the place down this flank. Mahrez and De Bruyne are having a lot of joy.
14 min: Richarlison dribbles in from the right and reaches the box. He’s ushered back out of it by Fernandinho, though too strongly; he’s nudged to the ground the second he’s out of the area. A free kick in a very dangerous position. Digne blasts it witlessly into the stand.
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12 min: De Bruyne comes at Everton down the right. They’re enjoying so much space down this flank. He lashes hard and low towards the near post. Pickford hacks away with his feet.
11 min: A surreal passage of play begins as Mahrez crosses from the right. The ball should be cleared easily by Mina, but the defender shanks it straight back to Mahrez, who crosses again. It’s a sensational cross that finds Gundogan free at the far post, six yards out. Gundogan has to score, but he leans back and sidefoots the ball off the crossbar! How on earth did he manage to miss that?!
10 min: Everton launch their first meaningful attack down the right. Some neat work by Sigurdsson and Calvert-Lewin sets Coleman scampering towards the byline, but the full-back’s cutback isn’t any good. City clear their lines.
9 min: The game restarts, and De Bruyne drives down the right. Delph does extremely well to ensure his former City team-mate can’t get a cross or shot away upon reaching the box.
7 min: Iwobi comes on in Walcott’s place.
6 min: That looked so innocuous at first, but the ball - whipped in with great pace by Sterling - caught Walcott flush on the back of his head as he turned. A terrible whack. No blame at all on Sterling, of course. Just awful luck. A warm round of sympathetic applause from all corners of the stadium as he’s carried to the nearest ambulance.
4 min: Walcott is really groggy. He’s struggling to sit upright, and won’t be able to continue. The ambulance crew are taking care as they load him onto the stretcher.
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2 min: An early problem for Walcott, who is flat on his back in his own penalty area, having taken a whack to the head. Sterling whipped in a cross, and it smacked him on the back of the head from close range. He sits up, but looks extremely groggy as a result.
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City get the ball rolling! They’re kicking towards the Gwladys Street end in this first half. And within 45 seconds, Mahrez screams in from the right and curls low and hard towards the bottom left. Pickford gets down to parry clear. An early shot across Everton’s bows.
The teams are out! Everton are in their famous royal blue, while Manchester City sport their third-choice Barratt’s Fruit Salad homage. Z Cars has been blasted out of the PA, the crowd are giving it plenty, and we’ll be off in a minute!
Pep talks. “We have made four changes, and the next one will be changes again. I try for everybody to be involved. Eight points is a big gap already. We face a team [Liverpool] that lost one game last season, so I don’t see them dropping too many with the quality they have. And when they don’t play to a high level they always win. But we are in September so there are a lot of games left.”
Marco Silva is in bullish mood. “Strikers need goals for confidence, so now is the moment for Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He can play a key part in the game. We started that game against Sheffield United after six wins in a row at home; that means what we were doing at home was really good. Of course we had a bad game. But it is up to us to show a reaction. Goodison will be with a fantastic atmosphere, and the fans will expect a good performance. We have the desire to achieve a good result, while of course respecting our opponent.”
The earlier results add a little more spice to this match. Manchester City are now eight points behind Liverpool, who won narrowly at Sheffield United. They could very much do with winning this game in hand. Everton meanwhile have slipped to 15th place, but victory tonight would launch them into the top half, tenth to be precise.
Marco Silva makes two changes to Everton’s last Premier League selection. Theo Walcott and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the latter having scored twice in the League Cup during the week, replace Moise Kean and Bernard.
Pep Guardiola makes four changes to the side that routed Watford in the league last week. Ilkay Gundogan, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko come in for Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Benjamin Mendy.
The teams
Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Mina, Digne, Schneiderlin, Delph, Walcott, Sigurdsson, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Holgate, Tosun, Iwobi, Davies, Kean, Lossl, Sidibe.
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Otamendi, Fernandinho, Zinchenko, Rodri, Gundogan, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Sterling, Gabriel Jesus.
Subs: Bravo, Aguero, Bernardo Silva, Silva, Mendy, Joao Cancelo, Foden.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
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Preamble
Manchester City have scored 24 goals in the Premier League already this season. That’s taken six matches. At a rate of four goals a game. Everton are hereby permitted to take one hard, loud, long, theatrical gulp.
Not least because their last two performances in the league have been poor. A quiet capitulation at Bournemouth, a miserable struggle against Sheffield United at home. A midweek cakewalk at Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup has given under-fire Marco Silva some breathing room, though few expect his team, very much a work in progress, to beat the champions tonight. They’re 9-1 against, on their own turf.
But this is football, and there’s always hope. It’s not as though Everton are desperately short of talent, and these guys have surely got to click into life sometime. Additionally, Pep Guardiola may approach Goodison Park this evening with a little trepidation, given an early version of his City side went down here 4-0 just a couple of years ago, the worst league defeat of his entire managerial career. So you never know. Twenty-four goals in six games, though. Twenty-four!
Can City close the gap at the top on Liverpool? Or will Everton do themselves - and their Merseyside rivals - a solid? It’s set up deliciously. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm BST.
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