Live Blog

Fulltime Thoughts - Better effort from Everton, but put to the sword for failing to take their chances. But this was never the problem to begin with, it’s always been the Blues playing down to weaker opposition.

Premier League

90+4’ - Long ball to Bernardo Silva finds Pickford trying to play sweeper and he loses the ball, but is lucky City can’t score. Poor from the goalie to end this game.

90+2’ - Another Sigurdsson corner is cleared and City break. Late sub Bernardo Silva tries to chip Pickford who saves it, but it’s offside anyway.

90’ - City killing the clock now, and Everton have no wind left in their sails, and neither do the fans. 4 minutes minimum to be added on.

85’ - Aguero again holds the ball and splits the Everton defence, falls to Sterling whose shot hits the underside of the bar and bounces in and the back out. 3-1, game over now.
The Blues had their chances to tie this up and failed to take them, and this is the result.

83’ - Coleman beats Sterling down the right, yanked back and the ref plays advantage. He wins a corner.
Sigurdsson into the box and again Mina gets to it first, but it’s tame and straight at Ederson. Its just not working for the Blues now.

79’ - Kean runs at Zinchenko and wins a corner.
Sigurdsson with a wicked outswinger and Mina gets to it, great save from Ederson who palms it straight to DCL and he turns it just wide of the post. Oh Lord why have you forsaken us.
Davies is the last sub for the Blues, on for Schneiderlin.

76’ - ARGH! Sigurdsson slides DCL free and his chip over Ederson is deflected just wide, so close from the Blues.

73’ - Moise Kean will be coming on now for Iwobi. Goodison is pretty deflated. Richarlison is back on the left again with Kean out on the right.
Aguero runs at the tired defence now and fires off a rising shot, just over the bar. Whew.

70’ - More chances for City with Everton’s backline starting to look ragged. Mina in the book now, needlessly cuts down de Bruyne late, just outside the box on the Everton left.
What a spectacular freekick from Mahrez, beats Pickford into the far corner. Goalie was unsighted and the shot was too powerful for his late reaction. Disappointing all around.

66’ - City’s first sub is going to be Sergio Aguero on for Jesus. Imagine that depth.

62’ - Everton carved wide open down the middle with Sterling wide open at the penalty spot, and he puts it wide with Pickford charging out. Close shave!
Richarlison wins another freekick off Zinchenko in the same position as the last time, but this one is headed clear.

59’ - City break with Coleman out of position, and Schneiderlin’s professional foul to bring down de Bruyne earns him a deserved yellow card. The Belgian is quite unhappy and lets Morgan know, but the Everton player doesn’t care.

54’ - Schneiderlin with a delightful long ball for Richarlison, and Oleksandr Zinchenko bundles him over needlessly, and Everton have a freekick near the corner flag.
Digne with a savage freekick that skims at head level right to Mina and his header is somehow saved by Ederson!
The corner is cleared and City break, and that is eventually blocked, and now DCL breaks and Fernandinho kicks RIcharlison in the face.. inadvertent according to the referee, but Goodison is inconvenienced. We know how well-versed Fernandinho is in the dark arts.

50’ - Schneiderlin and Sigurdsson combine to strip Gundogan of the ball and set DCL free. The striker waltzes past Otamendi who goes to ground and fouls him, getting a yellow card in the process and acts like he’s hurt his back too trying to get some leniency from Michael Oliver.
Sigurdsson’s delivery is spot on but the it’s a but too high for Richarlison who gets under it. Good chance.

47’ - It opens up for Gundogan and his attempted shot into the far corner is blocked well. Sterling was wide open to receive the ball on the Blues’ right and created that chance.
De Bruyne beats DIgne and gets free but his shot is into the side netting, whew.

46’ - Underway in the second half, no further changes for Everton, or City for that matter.

Halftime Thoughts - The Blues had been pegged back by a rampant City side that started really strong. The goal had a sense of inevitability about it, but Everton showed some spine coming back strong and creating some chances of their own.

Premier League

45+6’ - The ref blows for halftime with City starting to assert themselves again after a spell where the Blues were creating some chances following the equalizer.

45+3’ - Everton are dropping deep in their own half and that’s giving City room to shoot from the top of the box. Gundogan’s strike from outside the box is saved by Pickford.

44’ - Jesus finds himself free on the left but flays his shot well wide. Meanwhile Sterling and Mina have a coming together and some angry words are exchanged.

42’ - Oh so close! Iwobi with a gem of a ball into the box that Sigurdsson runs into, but hesitates as Ederson comes rushing out, and the ball falls safely for City.

39’ - Richarlison sparks another quick counter and DCL is fouled by Rodrigo in the City half, with the midfielder going in the book.
The cross into the box is decent from Sigurdsson but Richarlison’s header is tame and Ederson gathers.

33’ - OMG OMG OMG! Everton pull it back to make it 1-1!! Iwobi’s tenacity as he enters the box wins him the ball and he finds Coleman in space. The captain dinks it over an onrushing Ederson and DCL goes FLYING in to score!! Did Seamus already get it in before the header? Who knows, and Goodison doesn’t care!

28’ - Richarlison dallies in the box and loses the ball, and the strawberry-lemonade-popsicles counter like lightning, ending up with Mahrez shooting at Pickford who snuffs the ball.

27’ - Sigurdsson gets another chance, but the shot is straight at Ederson, who fumbles the rebound but the Icelander cannot get to it.

24’ - And there it is. City lead 1-0 from an excellent Gabriel Jesus header.
Delph has to go chase Mahrez out on the left, and the winger finds De Bruyne for an excellent cross into the box, and Michael Keane loses Jesus behind him and the Brazilian striker does not miss, Pickford no chance with the ball landing in no-man’s land.

23’ - Fabian Delph robs the ball in the City half and Digne finds Gylfi Sigurdsson on the penalty spot, and his first-time shot is blocked well.

18’ - Kevin de Bruyne with a peach of a pass to Sterling, who jinks into the box and centers for Yerry Mina to hoof clear. Pressure!

14’ - Richarlison wins a freekick in a dangerous area off Fernandinho from a quick counter - that will be today’s modus operandi.
Unfortunately Lucas Digne skies the shot. We won’t get too many chances like that today.

12’ - Bar! Whew, Ilkay Gundogan hits the woodwork from pointblank range! Mahrez with a wicked cross across the six-yard box and the midfielder somehow skies it onto the crossbar.

7’ - Play resumes after about five minutes, here’s wishing Walcott all the best.

4’ - For Blues who desperately wanted Alex Iwobi to play, here he is. Walcott will not be able to continue, likely due to concussion protocol. The veteran player has been immobilized on the stretcher, wonder if it’s the angle of how the ball hit him that might have caused a neck issue.

1’ - Seconds after kickoff Riyad Mahrez cuts in from Everton left and fires off a shot that Jordan Pickford parries away safely.
Raheem Sterling’s cross attempt catches Theo Walcott in the face and he’s down, the physios are on.

Starting Lineups - Marco Silva has gone with as conservative a lineup as possible. We did hear Bernard was ill which explains why Richarlison is back on the left and Theo Walcott on the right. This is the lineup of a manager expecting to park the bus for the duration of the game.

Preview

Everton host Premier League defending champions Manchester City today with a strong possibility of the visitors running riot. The Blues are at an emotional and mental low after yet another disheartening loss, and with manager Marco Silva having received the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’ continuing to feel the pressure what could go wrong?

City are just three five points behind Liverpool in the league table and a big win will see them return to narrow the gap at the top of the table. The Reds will be desperately hoping their cross-city rivals will show a spine this evening, and to be honest, so will most Toffees.

Believe it or not, the previous two paragraphs were lifted almost entirely from the gamethread post for this exact fixture in February earlier this year, and virtually nothing has changed.

Match Details

Competition: Premier League Matchday 7

Date and start time: Saturday, September 28th at 9:30 a.m. PT / 12:30 p.m ET / 5:30 p.m. BST

Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 39,572

Weather: 60°F/16°C, chance of showers, 33% chance of precipitation, 26 kmph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: NBC, Universo - United States; Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Main Event - United Kingdom; DAZN, RMC Sport 1, Canal+ Sport, beIN Sports HD 2 & 11, SuperSport 3 Africa, Optus Sport, ESPN Brazil, ESPN2 Sur, RUSH

Radio: evertontv, TalkSport Radio World, BBC Radio Manchester, SiriusXM FC

Live stream: NBCSports.com, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, SKY GO Extra

Gamethread: Live blog above starting one hour before game time

Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Lineups

Everton

Starting XI: Pickford, Digne, Mina, Keane, Coleman; Schneiderlin, Delph, Sigurdsson; Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Walcott

Subs: Lossl, Holgate, Sidibe, Davies, Iwobi, Kean, Tosun

Manchester City

Starting XI: Ederson; Walker, Otamendi, Fernandinho(C), Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Rodrigo, Gündogan; Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus, Sterling.

Subs: Bravo, Aguero, Bernardo, Silva, Mendy, Cancelo, Foden

Last Meeting

The Blues fell behind just before the break to a goal from a corner, and then with City running out the clock late on, saw the visitors add another for the 2-0 final scoreline. The only positive that can be taken from that loss is that it kickstarted a strong run that saw the Blues virtually unbeatable at home and much-improved away from Goodison. If only today’s game can also do the same.