Jack Grealish has begun his Everton loan with encouraging form, but he will not be available for Saturday’s fixture against Manchester City. The reason is straightforward: Grealish is on loan from Manchester City and Premier League rules prevent loaned players from facing their parent clubs.

The restriction applies across the Premier League and the FA Cup, meaning Grealish must watch from the stands for this Manchester City meeting. Everton will hope to have him back in the squad for the following weekend when they host Tottenham Hotspur.

Loan regulations vary by competition. In the Carabao Cup, clubs can agree whether a loan player is permitted to play for the borrowing side. Everton have no chance to field Grealish against Manchester City in that competition however, having already been knocked out after a 2–0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

UEFA takes a different approach for the Champions League. There are no restrictions on loan players facing their parent clubs in continental competition, with UEFA ruling that team selection cannot be limited in that way. That rule does not affect Grealish and Everton this season, but it could become relevant in other loan situations. The draft notes one example where Manchester City might later encounter this scenario if they are drawn against Inter, where centre back Manuel Akanji is enjoying a loan away from Pep Guardiola’s side.

The simple outcome for Saturday is that Grealish will be unavailable for Everton versus Manchester City due to the Premier League loan rule, with the possibility of a return to Everton’s lineup once the restriction no longer applies.

Manchester City resume Premier League duty at the Etihad after the international break with the chance to move to the top of the table. City sit fifth, three points behind leaders Arsenal, and arrive having come close to defeating Arsenal at the Emirates last month. This is not being billed as a vintage Pep Guardiola side, but Erling Haaland’s form remains decisive.

Everton travel in reasonable shape after a last-gasp victory over the unbeaten Crystal Palace two weeks ago. David Moyes continues to receive praise for his work on Merseyside, but Everton must cope without talisman Jack Grealish. Grealish “picked the perfect time to score his first goal for the club against Palace” and is ineligible to face his parent club due to Premier League rules.

Haaland was released from international duty earlier than expected, having continued his excellent start to the season with a hat-trick against Israel. He should be fresh for Saturday’s game, where an injury-hit Everton defence awaits. Omar Marmoush is back in training after a spell out through injury and Rayan Cherki is also back in action for the hosts.

City have more immediate fitness concerns. Rodri pulled out of the Spain squad after picking up a knock in the win over Brentford and Nico González will likely start at the base of midfield in the absence of the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner. Defenders Abdukodir Khusanov and Rayan Aït-Nouri are likely to miss out, while John Stones played twice for England over the break.

Predicted Man City lineup (4-1-4-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Nico; Bernardo, Foden, Reijnders, Doku; Haaland.

Everton will reshuffle without Grealish. Tyler Dibling could come in down the right and shift Iliman Ndiaye into Grealish’s role. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will continue to operate as Everton’s all-action No. 10. Michael Keane is set to miss out through injury and Jarrad Branthwaite’s long absence requires a defensive reshuffle; Seamus Coleman may come in at right back, moving Jake O’Brien into the heart of the backline.

Predicted Everton lineup (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Coleman, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner; Dibling, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndiaye; Beto.

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Eighteen years on, Mark Clattenberg has described a Merseyside derby as the defining error of his refereeing career. His account, given on the Daily Mail’s Whistleblowers podcast, revisits a match at Goodison Park that he now says exposed his unreadiness for that intensity.

“I had already been given Manchester [derby], and the north London derby the previous week. I was appointed to referee Everton-Liverpool at Goodison [Park]. I’m not using this as an excuse, but I had never experienced that type of derby before,” he told the podcast. “It was ferocious. This was a working-class derby, and I got it completely wrong.”

Clattenberg accepts the decisions that turned the fixture became the flashpoint. “I sent off two Everton players. The Everton fans thought I changed my mind because of Steven Gerrard. He walked past the camera when I was changing from a yellow to a red card… but it was always a red card for Tony Hibbert. It looked like Gerrard said something to me, and I had changed my mind. That obviously never happened. I also sent off Phil Neville for a handball on the line.

“The worst mistake I made was near the end of the game. I don’t know what was going on in my mind. Jamie Carragher pulled down Joleon Lescott for an easy penalty. If I had given it, Everton had the chance to equalise. In the eyes of Everton, I had made three big errors—all the big decisions seemed to go in Liverpool ’s favour.”

He said he “lost control” of the derby, a failure that had consequences off the field as well as on it. Clattenberg received death threats after the match and was kept off Everton games for the next six years until 2013. The referee, who made his top-flight debut in the early weeks of 2004–05 and became full-time in 2006, has since moved into television and now heads the refereeing role on the BBC revival of the gameshow Gladiators.