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Poor old Steve Bruce has been sacked. He was tasked with returning Aston Villa to the Premier League and he was nowhere near achieving it and so, just before we play them in the FA Cup third round, the axe is duly swung.

I am tempted to give Alf Areola his debut, but the coaches say that he isn’t settled yet and I’d like to give him some time in the reserves to acclimatise. There’s no point taking risks, especially in a competition we can actually win.

It’s a very straight forward tie, Villa are absolutely awful and they barely muster a shot. Idrissa Gueye, soon to depart for the African Nations Cup, breaks the deadlock with an absolute rocket of a shot that crashes in off the crossbar. Even though we struggle to find the security blanket second goal, I pull off my key players on the hour. We breeze through to the full-time whistle.

And then everything kicks off. First I get an offer from China for Kevin Mirallas. It’s not a very good offer, just £12m down and £3m to follow with bonuses, but when I turn it down, Mirallas goes absolutely tonto, telling me that I promised he could leave if a big bid came in. We have very different ideas about what constitutes a big bid, but what can I do? He’s got his heart set on a move, so I tell the Chinese clubs to bid £17.75m in full and he can leave. This is far from ideal. Mirallas was a very consistent performer on the left and it leaves me relying solely on James McClean.

Then Romelu Lukaku comes to see me to tell me that he wants to sign for Manchester City. I ask him what he needs me to say to make him stay. He says that I need to promise him we can win the title this season. I laugh loudly and slap him on the back, but his face tells me that he’s not joking. Of course I can’t tell him that we’ll win the title. I can’t even promise a European finish, we’re Everton, for goodness sake. I tell him that he’s going nowhere and he goes absolutely tonto too, demanding to leave the club. I have to work very hard to calm him down, but that means agreeing to let him go if a bid comes in.

And then Chelsea bid £25m for Seamus Coleman. Now I am briefly tempted by this because Rick Karsdorp has played so well since he arrived in the summer, but I can’t lose everyone all at once. I offer him a new, improved contract and he decides to stick around.

All of this drama, and the start of the African Nations Cup, means that we’ve got a few changes to the team to report. James McClean comes in for Kevin Mirallas, currently sat at home doing his Cantonese Duolingo lessons. Tom Cleverley will get a run in the side in the place of ACN-bound Gueye and young Liam Walsh takes his place on the bench as a reminder that I really, really need to buy a central midfielder. Mercifully, Lukaku is still willing to play which is a good thing because Oumar Niasse is at the African Nations Cup too…

We are half the team without Gueye smashing into tackles in the middle. Watford look really dangerous throughout the first half and I give my players a good cathartic rollocking at the break. 10 minutes after the restart, Coleman and Deulofeu combine down the right to release Barkley into the box. He cuts a low pass back for Lukaku who muscles his way past Younnes Kaboul to prod the ball home. But Watford are still strong and it isn’t long before Troy Deeney heads a cross straight through Robles hands to equalise. Areola may be in the team sooner than he expected. It ends 1-1 and we can have no complaints

The most annoying thing about all of this transfer activity is that I can’t really buy anyone until I know who’s leaving. If Lukaku is off, I need a frontline striker, but I can’t buy a frontline striker only to discover that Lukaku is sticking around because I definitely need a left winger to replace Mirallas. If Funes Mori is off, I need a new left-footed centre-back, but if he stays then surely I need to spend the money in midfield where we look a little light with Mohamed Besic still out until April. If I’ve got £10m to spend, that’s fine, I can find a bargain. But there’s no point spending £10m only to discover that I’ve got another £60m coming in from a big sale. In short, I’m going to have to wait until the last minute and just do what I can.

And if that wasn’t enough good news, we’ve got Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at the weekend.

We start really brightly as if we the sight of Claudio Bravo in goal for City has put a spring in our step. But when we make great chances, we spurn them. Twice, Lukaku is set up by Deulofeu, twice he missed the goal when it seems easier to score. And then, just before half-time, David Silva fires one straight at dear, old Joel Robles. He parries it, but it rolls away from him and straight into the path of Sergio Aguero. He doesn’t turn his nose up at chances like that. This might be the end of Robles’ run between the sticks.

I make a few changes, the two full-backs are both on yellow cards, so I swap them out and urge them to get further up the pitch. I move Deulofeu to the left and bring Aaron Lennon on for the dismal McClean. We start to make more chances, stretching a tiring City side from both flanks. Eventually they crack, they can’t clear their lines and Deulofeu picks up his 12th assist of the season, presenting Ross Barkley with a simple chance.

It’s been a traumatic couple of weeks, but it’s worth reminding ourselves that we are nine games unbeaten right now and still picking up points even amid the HR chaos. But we do need to start winning games again because another way of looking at the recent form is to say that we’ve drawn three of our last four and we won’t stay in the Champions League places like that. Liverpool are flying under Roberto Mancini, Southampton and Watford are still gobbling up points, and Chelsea and Spurs can’t stay crap forever. There are 15 games left this season. They’re all big ones now.

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