Still Everton push, this time getting as far as the Villa box before the attack breaks down. There's a lot of claret shirts back there, lots of running around without actually seeing the ball. A very loud tannoy announcement tells us to remain seated. Yes, ma'am.

Villa can barely get it out of their own half. Everton are defending on the halfway line, like a rugby team protecting the 22. Brendan Galloway is seeing plenty of the ball.

Everton come again, a lovely cross-field pass from John Stones finding Brendan Galloway with chalk on his boots. The cross is cut out and Villa have a throw in their own right defensive corner.

I'm not sure Villa had a touch in those first couple of minutes, they barely got close to the ball. It needed an Everton long ball to skip on and out of play for the visitors to get it. 

Image source, Reuters

Both teams are as we know them best - Everton in blue and white, Villa in claret and blue. Everton are attacking the goal to the left as I watch on.

We're under way...

As at every Premier League game this weekend, we hear the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. The players have lined up, not confined to their teams. There are some French flags in the crowd, while Remi Garde is singing.

Image source, Getty Images

Warm handshake between Roberto Martinez and Remi Garde, part of the new breed of suave manager. They're generally better dressed these days, football bosses.

Image source, Reuters

Z-Cars plays, the players emerge from the tunnel, the referee grabs the ball. It's brass monkeys at Goodison, so most of the crowd are wrapped up like presents under the Christmas tree.

Everton defender John Stones could play for the best clubs in world football, including Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

That's the view of former Manchester United defender Phil Neville, who also likened the England international to Rio Ferdinand.

"I think he can play, not just at the best clubs in England, but at the best clubs in Europe. I really do," Neville, now Valencia's assistant coach, told BBC Radio 5 live.

"One of the big boys in Spain, or Bayern Munich - I think he's at that level. They'll be looking at him and thinking this boy is something special."

Listen to Neville's assessment here.

Think you can do better than Lawro? Predict the score for this match and the rest of this round's Premier League fixtures in our Predictor game.

Image source, BBC Sport

"Garde got off to a good start with a point and a clean sheet, but Villa still did not look like scoring and usually, when you allow the opposition as many chances as City had, then you end up conceding a few goals.

"Everton were solid enough against West Ham in their last game and I just cannot tip Villa to go away and get anything at the moment."

Read Lawro's full predictions v WWE wrestling star Neville

Everton are unchanged from before the international break, but Remi Garde makes three changes to his Aston Villa side.

Keiran Richardson, Ashley Westwood and Jack Grealish are all recalled.

Everton: Howard, Galloway, Funes Mori, Stones, Coleman, McCarthy, Barry (c), Deulofeu, Barkley, Kone, Lukaku. 

Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Clark, Richardson, Gana, Westwood, Veretout, Gil, Grealish, Ayew.

Steve Wilson
MOTD commentator at Goodison Park

"The most frequently played fixture in England gets a 219th outing, a little over 127 years since Villa won the first 2-1 at their Wellington Road ground.

"It may be a measure of the clubs' similar stature - or just a mathematical anomaly - but each has enjoyed 80 wins against the other, with 58 draws."

His obstacle is a trip to Goodison Park to face an Everton side whose inconsistencies have seen them bounce around in mid-table.

A draw at West Ham last time out followed a 6-2 home thrashing of Sunderland.

The Toffees, though, haven't won back-to-back home games since April. 

But the anti-Marx, the James Madison, in this story, has arrived in the shape of Remi Garde.

A creditable goalless draw with Manchester City was earned in the Frenchman's first match in charge, but now he is looking for a first victory, one that would go some way to cutting the five-point gap to safety.

Image source, Getty Images

And that danger comes in the shape of yet another Aston Villa flirtation with relegation.

I say flirtation, but it's more serious than that. It's not flirting, but a full-blown dangerous romance that has so far taken in 12 dates.

It's no love story, mind. And could end in tragedy. Or farce.