Manchester City v Everton: Premier League – live!

27 min: Carlo Ancelotti seems to have heard McManaman, as Pickford has gone long with his past three kick-outs and clearances. On the touchline the Italian admonishes his players for passing the ball backwards rather than forward.

25 min: Steve McManaman is on co-comms for BT Sport and he’s criticised Everton for repeatedly trying to play the ball out from the back when they’re not good enough to do so. He suggests they should “go long” and give themselves a chance of winning 50-50 balls. He may well have a point – they do have a height advantage over their opponents in almost every area of the pitch.

24 min: Another poor clearance from Pickford results in Gabriel Jesus being presented with a shooting chance from distance. He skies the ball over the bar.

22 min: Jordan Pickford shanks a clearance into the stand and Joao Cancelo takes the ensuing throw-in. The ball goes out for another throw-in, which is taken by Everton’s Luca Digne. Those two VAR interventions, the second of which was completely farcical, seem to have had a detrimental effect on the rhythm of this game.

19 min: To be clear, if Mahrez was fouled by Digne, it was after Marriner had blown his whistle for offside against the City midfielder. After a lengthy consultation, during which the fans in the stadium had no idea what was going on, VAR decides that City aren’t getting a penalty. Which seems fair.

17 min: Running towards the Everton goal, Riyad Mahrez tries to control a Fernandinho pass from deep on his chest, but is penalised for offside. Replays suggest he wasn’t offside but now referee Andre Marriner seems to have been told Mahrez might have been fouled by Lucas Digne.

15 min: On the touchline, Pep Guardiola is giving the fourth official an awful rollicking, but he can’t really complain. As Manchester City swept forward, the ball was played to Mahrez in an offside position on the right wing. He played it towards Cancelo, whose excellent ball across the face of the Everton goal was stabbed home by Foden. He thought he’d scored his second Premier League goal, but the wait goes on.

An offside in the build-up to Manchester City’s goal means it is chalked off. This one, to be fair, was visible to the naked eye.

Phil Foden opens the scoring for the hosts with a tap-in at the far post.

11 min: Pickford comes off his line to intercept an Ilkay Gundogan pass over the top that Riyad Mahrez was chasing with a perfectly timed run.

10 min: More good work from Coleman, this time at the other end of the pitch. The Irishman does well to show Kevin De Bruyne wide as he charged into the Everton penalty area with the ball at his feet.

9 min: Claudio Bravo is is forced to tip the ball over the bar after a deft touch from Seamus Coleman, who was attempting to dink the ball over the keeper after running on to a through-ball from Sigurdsson. Nothing comes from the ensuing corner.

7 min: Benjamin sends a low cross into the Everton penalty area after latching on to a ball into space up the left flank. His delivery fizzes behind the on-rushing Gabriel Jesus and a decent chance goes to waste.

5 min: Everton enjoy a spell of possession and win a free-kick when Davies gets kicked just inside the City half.

4 min: City are dominating these very early stages, albeit without creating anything much thus far. Rodri tries to get them forward, but his through ball is put out for a throw-in.

2 min: Playing on the right of Everton’s back three, Seamus Coleman gets an early touch. Moments later, Gylfi Sigurdsson is dispossessed in his own half, but City can’t take advantage.

2 min: Jordan Pickford fumbles an early cross whipped into the box by Kevin De Bruyne. It doesn’t matter, the flag was up for offside.

1 min: Tom Davies gets the ball rolling for Everton, who line up in a 3-4-3 formation, their players wearing navy shirts, shorts and socks. Manchester City are in their customary home kit of light blue shirts, white shorts and white socks.

Not long now: Andre Marriner leads both teams out on to the pitch on a busy day for the Premier League. Leicester’s 3-0 win over Newcastle earlier this afternoon means they have tightened their grip on second place and are now four points clear of City having played one game more. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes away.

A late change for Everton: Tom Davies has come in for Bernard, who must have done himself a mischief in the warm-up. Anthony Gordon steps up to the substitutes’ bench.

Team news: Manchester City go without goalkeeper Ederson despite him having served a one-match suspension. The Brazilian is absent from the matchday squad and Claudio Bravo keeps his place, with Scott Carson on the bench in reserve. Joao Cancelo, Benjamin Mendy, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus come into the side.

Carlo Ancelotti also makes five changes to his side with Yerry Mina, Lucas Digne, Seamus Coleman, Fabian Delph and Bernard all coming in.

Man City: Bravo, Joao Cancelo, Garcia, Fernandinho, Mendy, Gundogan, Rodri, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden, Gabriel Jesus.

Subs: Walker, Sterling, Aguero, Jose Angelino, Bernardo Silva, Silva, Carson.

Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Holgate, Mina, Digne, Sidibe, Sigurdsson, Delph, Bernard, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin.

Subs: Baines, Keane, Walcott, Tosun, Stekelenburg, Davies, Kean.

Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)

Early team news

David Silva and John Stones have returned to first team training with City following spells on the sidelines and were due to be assessed of today’s game. Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte remain out with injury for the foreseeable future, although the latter is expected to return to full training within the next fortnight.

For Everton, Alex Iwobi remains out with a hamstring injury, while Morgan Schneiderlin is on the verge of a return to first team action. Andre Gomes, Cuco Martina and Jean-Philippe Gbamin are long-term absentees.

The Premier League champions host in-form Everton at the Etihad Stadium, where big-name bosses Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola will occupy adjacent technical areas. The Italian has won both his matches in charge of Everton since taking over, but may find Manchester City a considerably tougher nut to crack than Newcastle and Burnley before them. Kick-off is at 5.30pm GMT, but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.