Everton v Manchester City: Premier League – live!

Here we go, then. Everton get the second half underway. No half-time changes.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.