Premier League
City Ease Past Everton
Manchester City cruised to a 3-1 win over seventh placed Everton on a cold rainy night at the Etihad. A brace from Gabriel Jesus and another goal from Raheem Sterling sent the reigning champs back on top of the league standings at least momentarily. City had to get back to winning ways with the loss to Chelsea last weekend. Everton were hoping to close in on the top four. However, they were on the back foot for most of the game. As expected from Pep Guardiola’s men, they had majority of the possession and created a lot more chances.
Potent Manchester City Attack
The defending champions fielded an attacking lineup and made their intent clear fairly early on. They were constantly bursting into the Everton half and pressing high up the field. This forced Everton to punt the ball long. Eventually, this is what led to the opener. Moments after Jordan Pickford made an excellent stop to prevent a Michael Keane own goal, Yerry Mina attempted a long ball to evade the pressure but it fell straight to Ilkay Gundogan. The midfielder found Leroy Sane who played in Jesus to slot past Pickford. Everton were 1-0 down inside 22 minutes.
Pulsating Second Half
The champions picked up the pace once more in the second half. Just five minutes after the restart, Sane pinged in a lovely cross from the left which Jesus headed home with aplomb. This was the Brazilian striker’s first double since October 2017 against Stoke.
But suddenly Everton started looking more lively. They kept surging forward with menace and pegged City back. The pressure eventually paid off when Lucas Digne floated in a cross to Dominic Calvert-Lewin who headed home. The visitors had pulled one back. The goal was followed by the introduction of the in-form Raheem Sterling. Some poor defending from Everton allowed the England international to ghost into the box and head home from close range. It was practically Sterling’s first touch of the game. The goal put the game to bed and allowed Pep to introduce Kevin De Bruyne who made his return after a lengthy injury layoff.
Missed Chances for Everton
Everton managed to sporadically work their way into good positions near the Manchester City area but whenever they managed to get into a clear scoring position they lacked clinicality and composure. Though Richarlison has been incredible for Everton, he failed to convert the two big chances that came his way. He blazed a volley over the bar in the first half and again did not manage to test Ederson in goal in the second period. This came to haunt Everton because no team can afford to miss chances against the likes of Man City. There will be a lot of takeaways for Marco Silva from this game though.
Photo credit to Everton Football Club via Flickr
