Live Blog

Fulltime - Everton showed some life, but once again lose against the top six with the two terrible sins killing them - missed chances and defensive mistakes.

87’ - Two consecutive terrible turnovers lets Richarlison run in on goal, wins the first corner of the game for the Blues. DCL flicks it on, Mina collapses quite easily, and that kicks off some pushing and shoving between the Colombian and some assorted South Americans.

83’ - Naughty little back-heel shot for DCL from a cross on the right, but not enough power on it to beat Ederson. His confidence is high, as is Lookman’s, who has had a couple of good runs.

81’ - Tom Davies comes on now for the disappointing Gylfi Sigurdsson.

77’ - Shenanigans now. Delph and DCL get into an altercation as the City player flies studs up to clear the ball, and dug into DCL’s ankle. The two players engage angrily, and despite that dangerous tackle both players get a yellow. Delph should be off the field, referee Craig Pawson disagrees.

73’ - Now Walcott misses his customary chance. Everton have done this so many times in big games, created chances but have failed to put them away, and paid dearly.

71’ - Come on Richarlison! Blues push forward and create another great chance, with DCL laying off a shot for the Brazilian just outside the box, but he blast it over and wide. Really really needs to get that on target.

69’ - Oh well, that was short-lived. Raheem Sterling makes it 3-1 a minute after coming on. City counter attack, Zouma loses Fernandinho and his inch-perfect cross goes over Mina, and the shorter Sterling smashes his header past the wrong-footed Pickford. Ooof.

65’ - DCL!! Excellent header from Calvert-Lewin, finishes off an Everton counter-attack that actually worked this time. Richarlison did well holding up the ball, and Digne’s cross was pinpoint, like they usually are. Delph on DCL is a mismatch, and though the youngster’s header wasn’t clean, it was good.

63’ - Gundogan makes a give-and-go run into the box, Keane does well to stay on him, the City player gets his shot wide.

57’ - Marco Silva going for broke here. Seamus Coleman and Bernard off, Theo Walcott and Ademola Lookman come on. 4-4-2 it looks like now, with Sigurdsson as the captain.

50’ - That should be the game then. Fantastic spell of passing for City, the cross fizzes into the box, Keane is beaten and Jesus hammers his header home. It was straight at Pickford but carried way too much pace for the goalie. 2-0.

46’ - Everton get the second half started, and sustain some possession in the City half. Bernard and Richarlison look to have swapped wings.

Halftime - Almost all of us had this penciled in for a loss, so the scoreline is no surprise. What is utterly disappointing though is how poorly we’ve played. Turnovers all across the board, and the Blues look almost disinterested, like they’ve given up too.

40’ - Pickford again! Saves a thundering snapshot from about the penalty spot by Mahrez. That was an incredible save.

39’ - This game right now is just waiting for City to score again. The Blues are doing nothing in the opposing half, and the hosts have all the possession, movement and ideas.

31’ - City in full flow now, two touches taking the ball from their own box to deep into Everton territory.
Remember Richarlison? Is he even playing today, apart for that egregious miss?

29’ - Everton still trying to play out the back and City are immediately cutting it out and turning it into attack. The Toffees are shook and this is a bad idea now.

22’ - Well-worked move from City is nudged by Keane and it’s heading in for an own goal but Pickford saves. The two corners are then cleared away.
Poor pass from Mina is cut out, Gundogan puts Gabriel Jesus through past Keane and he slots it under the onrushing Pickford. 1-0 to the hosts.

19’ - Digne well beaten by Mahrez, and he hauls him down just outside the box. The winger was clean through if he’d let him go. The fullback gets a yellow card.
Short freekick routine is blocked, Fabian Delph hammers a shot from distance and it skims over.

15’ - Richarlison! Digne with a fantastic turn in the box and lofts a delightful cross over.. Richie comes rushing in to meet it and his volley is over unfortunately. That was a really good chance. Really have to take these whenever we go away against the top six.
Pickford with a fantastic goalkick gets Bernard running, but it comes to nothing.

11’ - The first few minutes of the game have been all City possession, and they’ve won the ball back quickly too whenever Everton have had it. The Blues are very 5-4-1 today.

7’ - Everton giving the ball away too easily in bad positions, and the hosts are very quick to turn that into dangerous possession.

3’ - Bernard losing the ball early. City are pressing high. Richarlison is out on the right, his countryman Bernard on the left and Dominic Calvert-Lewin up top.
Shot! Sigurdsson steals the ball in a good position and finds DCL breaking, his shot is parried out for a corner but the assistant calls DCL offside, it was millimetres really.

1’ - The hosts get us started! Everton are lined up 5-4-1 to start the game.

It’s certainly chilly in Manchester today, with the temperature at 35F/2C, the wind picking up and freezing rain in the forecast. Will make for some uncomfortable conditions.

Lineups - The matchday squads are out and interestingly some mindgames here from Marco Silva, as the official tweet doesn’t show the formation.

The big takeaways here are that we’ll play a three-centerhalf backline for the first time this season, and Idrissa Gueye is out. Beyond that, are we going to be 5-4-1, 5-3-2, or 5-2-3 is anybody’s guess.

For City, a bit of a reprieve for the Blues as Raheem Sterling, Segio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne are all on the bench.

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Everton have not fared well away at the top six in any of the last few seasons, and despite some better performances this season has been much of the same too. Today the Toffees go to the defending champions Manchester City looking for that elusive win.

City are still smarting from a 2-0 loss away at Chelsea last weekend, and buoyed by the return of Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero will be looking to get back on track against an Everton side who have been underwhelming in their last few games.

Match Details

Date and start time: Saturday, December 15th at 4:30am PT / 7:30am ET / 12:30pm BST

Stadium: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 55,097

Weather: 35°F/2°C, rains, 83% chance of precipitation, 18 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: NBCSN - United States; Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Main Event - United Kingdom, Sportsnew NOW - Canada, SuperSport 3, RMC Sport 3, beIN Sports

Radio: Everton Match Centre, BBC Radio 5 Live, TalkSport Radio World, SiriusXM FC

Live stream: NBCSports.com, Telemundo, fuboTV, TSN GO, beIN Sports Connect, Flow Sports App, Optus Sport

Gamethread: Liveblog will be updated above from one hour before kickoff

Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Lineups

Everton

Starting XI: Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Zouma, Mina, Digne; Sigurdsson, Gomes; Bernard, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison.

Subs: Stekelenburg, Baines, Schneiderlin, Davies, Walcott, Lookman, Tosun.

Manchester City

Starting XI: Ederson, Walker, Gündogan, Laporte, Delph, Sané, Silva, Fernandinho (C), Mahrez, Otamendi, Jesus

Subs: Muric, Stones, Sterling, Agüero, De Bruyne, Zinchenko, Foden

Last Meeting

The last time the two sides met at the Etihad, Ronald Koeman was still in charge of the Blues and Everton bravely held the hosts off for most of the game before conceding a late equalizer for a 1-1 scoreline.

City did beat the Toffees 3-1 at Goodison in March on their way to securing the Premier League title, with Yannick Bolasie getting the goal for Everton.