Key events
Over to another title race:
Words from Pep Guardiola but also some strong criticism of Tyler Dibling by David Moyes.
Manchester City make eight changes to the XI that started against Southampton in the FA Cup – the big-hitters are back. Matheus Nunes, Nico González and Rayan Cherki keep their places. Beto, Tim Iroegbunam and Merlin Röhl make their way into the Everton side.
The teams
Everton: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Iroegbunam, Garner, Dewsbury-Hall, Röhl, Ndiaye, Beto
Subs: Travers, Patterson, McNeil, Barry, George, Dibling, Coleman, Alcaraz, Armstrong
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, O’Reilly, González, Silva, Semenyo, Cherki, Doku, Haaland
Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Aké, Marmoush, Kovacic, Aït-Nouri, Savinho, Foden
Preamble
It’s Manchester City’s turn. They’re unbeaten in 11 consecutive league games, another treble in view for Pep Guardiola and co. They’ve not lost to Everton since January 2017, when Ademola Lookman completed a 4-0 rout at Goodison Park in Guardiola’s first season. David Moyes’ team have lost their last two, stung by injury-time winners against Liverpool and West Ham.
Yet Arsenal have responded to that defeat at the Etihad with back-to-back victories, forming a six-point lead, applying some serious scoreboard pressure. Even a draw feels fatal at the moment. Let’s see what the Hill Dickinson has for us. Kick-off’s at 8pm BST.