Everton suffer blow for Man City clash as Sean Dyche admits surprise

Sean Dyche will be forced to watch from the stands when Everton face Manchester City.

The Toffees boss picked up his third yellow card of the season in last Saturday's 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park. Dyche's protests appealing that Beto was brought down outside the box as Everton pursued an equaliser were deemed overzealous and he was cautioned by referee Michael Oliver.

With Dyche also being booked against Liverpool and Newcastle United, he must serve a one-match touchline ban - meaning he won't be able to bark instruction from the technical area against Man City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday (12.30 GMT).

The Everton manager said: “I got booked for a poor decision. I don’t know what that is about. Everyone in the crowd, everybody in football knows it was a poor decision. I get booked for it though.

“Can they rescind yellow cards, because when they look at that! People are like ‘there’s a passionate manager running down the line’ when they slide on their knees. Are you not allowed to show passion over a bad decision? I get confused… at the end of the day it was a poor decision, I only reacted and I got booked for it.”