Man City v Everton LIVE: Premier League team news and updates as De Bruyne is on the bench but Haaland starts

The champions can take over at the summit – for a few hours at least – if they beat the Toffees in their Saturday lunchtime encounter at the Etihad Stadium.

Yet after having difficulties against the Merseysiders in the past – Everton claimed a 1-1 draw in Manchester last season – the City manager is taking nothing for granted.

More from the big story from Friday and sin bins:

Football’s lawmakers are determined to crack down on dissent towards referees by giving officials the power to send players to the technical area for 10 minutes – mirroring similar protocols that are used in rugby union and other sports.

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has warned any proposal to introduce blue cards and sin bins will destroy football.

It was revealed on Thursday that a trial could commence soon where a blue card would be shown for dissent and professional fouls where the offenders would be sin binned for 10 minutes.

However, Postecoglou was unequivocal in his belief it would be a wrong move.

Pep Guardiola made four changes from his City side that beat Brentford in the Premier League on Monday.

Matheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku come in for Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva, with John Stones and Manuel Akanji replacing Kyle Walker and Josko Gvardiol in the defence.

Here is the Everton team news as Sean Dyche names an unchanged team from the 2-2 draw against Tottenham.

Everton XI: Pickford, Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Young, Gueye, Garner, McNeil, Harrison, Calvert-Lewin.

Subs: Joao Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Onana, Beto, Coleman, Chermiti, Hunt, Dobbin.

Here is the Manchester City squad:

XI | Ederson, Stones, Akanji, Dias (C), Ake, Rodrigo, Nunes, Foden, Alvarez, Doku, Haaland

SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Walker, Grealish, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gvardiol, Bobb, Wright, Lewis

The team news will be coming up shortly, will Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne both be starting against Everton?

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has dismissed talk of a repeat treble by saying he is “99.99” per cent certain it will not happen.

The champions are favourites to win a fourth Premier League title in succession and are also in strong contention to retain the Champions League and FA Cup.

Winning those trophies in back-to-back seasons would be unprecedented and therefore Guardiola, whose silverware haul in the past year also includes the European Super Cup and Club World Cup, feels it is unlikely.

As Girona look to pull off one of the biggest upsets in modern football history, it is not just those in Spain who will be eagerly watching to see if the club can beat Real Madrid and Barcelona to the LaLiga title. One interested party will be Manchester City. As both clubs are part of the City Football Group, Girona winning LaLiga or even finishing in the top four in Spain could have significant implications on next season’s Champions League. If both Girona and Manchester City qualify, there is a chance that only one of them will be allowed to play, given Uefa rules around multi-club ownership models.

Liverpool do not play until 3pm on Saturday, and a win for Pep Guardiola’s side would see them move one point ahead of their north west rivals.

Concerningly for Everton, City are unbeaten in their last 13 matches against the Toffees, a record stretching back to a 4-0 defeat at Goodison Park in January 2017.