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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