Cancelo does what Guardiola wants
Pep Guardiola was exceptionally blunt on Tuesday when asked for some reassurance over Joao Cancelo's position at the club, the brunt of the answer being that he needs to battle with Kyle Walker for a place and if he isn't happy - as had been suggested with the Euros coming up - then he can leave.
If that felt like a very strong thing to say in public, the manager followed it up by picking him against Everton in a formation that Manchester City have barely used. To make his task harder, up against him was Lucas Digne - one of the most dangerous operators in the league on that side of the pitch.
There were a few teething problems early on as he got to grips with the task and his man but Cancelo soon showed Guardiola exactly what he wanted.
The quality going forward was on display again as he exchanged crisp passes with Riyad Mahrez early on before a textbook City slideball across the box for Phil Foden to turn home at the far post. The offside didn't take away from the intent. A defence-splitting ball deserved more from Jesus.
Defensively, he was excellent too. Digne was often lurking or lingering in the space behind him as Everton targeted that channel but the Portuguese defender was at the top of his game, making a serious of crucial interceptions and shepherding the ball up the pitch and away from danger.
Guardiola asked Cancelo to wait for his moment, and Walker surely has more competition after this display.
Garcia grows in stature
Eric Garcia will never be the tallest or the quickest centre-back but his presence in the first team grows with every game.
The Spaniard is always cool on the ball and the most unsettled he looked against Everton was when he realised as he was heading off the pitch at full-time that he had forgotten to applaud the fans, sparking a dash back to the centre-circle.
City will need to spend to bring in a new defender but Garcia is showing he can be a very good member of the squad and consecutive league starts will help his development.
Conceding deflates City confidence
City had been strolling at 2-0 up, the home fans singing 'Stand Up for the Champions' as the team saw out the game... until a Claudio Bravo howler let Everton back in.
As happened at Wolves, it looked like everything was fine until it really wasn't and it hasn't taken as much as it used to to upset the team's balance and confidence this season. A game that had been as good as over was suddenly very much alive and, although it is to their credit that they hung on, they are making life more difficult than it needs to be.
Jesus responds in style
The talk at half-time was about City's poor finishing. Had Sergio Aguero been on the pitch, went the consensus, it could have been a very different scoreline.
Gabriel Jesus will have the Argentine and his superb record looming for at least the next 18 months, yet gave an important response in the second half with two excellent goals. Even if he missed the chance for a hat-trick by smashing against the post late on, those strikes will make it harder for the manager to bring Aguero back in.
