Everton will be without Jack Grealish for their Premier League game against Manchester City on Saturday.
The on-loan midfielder has been in sparkling form since his loan move to the Merseyside club having been deemed surplus to requirements by Pep Guardiola.
Premier League regulations, however, will prevent the 30-year-old from appearing against his parent club, but the Toffees will at least be boosted by the return of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who served his one-match suspension against Crystal Palace. ‘
‘Jack will be a miss for us because he’s played so well but we knew that when we came to play Manchester City, so it’s not unexpected,’ said David Moyes at his pre-match press conference.
‘We’ll rejig, get ready and get ready to go against Man City.’
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Guardiola, meanwhile, has left the door open for Grealish to return to City.
The City boss oversaw a significant summer rebuild that forced Grealish down the pecking order but his form over the opening weeks of the campaign has not gone unnoticed.
City manager Guardiola said: ‘I think he has a contract for one more year with us.
‘The important thing is he is back. He is a massive influence in the Everton games. After what’s happened, maybe Manchester City want him back, but I don’t know.
‘Many things are still going to happen. We’ll see.
‘The important thing is he is playing again, a lot of minutes. This is the standard. I’m happy, really, honestly, that he’s back in, trying his best.’
Another player Guardiola is pleased he does not have to stop is Erling Haaland, whom he feels is in the best shape of his career.
The prolific striker has scored a remarkable 21 goals in just 12 appearances for City or Norway this season.
Among his feats are a five-goal haul against Moldova in September and a hat-trick against Israel last weekend that have put Norway on the brink of World Cup qualification for the first time since 1998.
In nine outings for City, the loss to Tottenham in September is the only one in which he failed to find the net.
His 12 goals for City this term have taken the 25-year-old’s overall tally for the club to 136 since his move from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
Guardiola joked he would need to put ‘four central defenders’ on him if he was an opposition manager.
He added: ‘I had the pleasure of facing him when he was in Dortmund and hopefully I’m not going to face him again for the rest of my life.
‘He’s a top-class player. In world football, there are four, five, six, 10 players who make the difference. I think he’s one of them. We have him, hopefully for many years, and are really pleased for that.’