Manchester City 1, Everton 1
Erling Haaland missed a penalty as Everton grabbed a deserved point at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City’s poor run since the start of November continued.
City have now won just once in 13 games and the game against Everton was summed up when Phil Foden was booked in injury time trying to impede Armando Broja – hardly the most dangerous of opponents – as he tried to accelerate away from him with the ball by pulling down his shorts as he went past.
City were unable to name 8 first team players in the match day squad going into this game with two of their veteran midfielders on a bench filled with inexperienced youngsters.
It seems clear that they will have to dip into the January transfer market to re-energise a squad that has been filled with walking wounded and players now obviously past their best for months.
The incoming teenager Claudio Echeverri probably isn’t the answer but two or three additional new faces may go some way to relieving a squad that had been below par all season.
Bernardo Silva put City into the lead but Iliman Ndiaye punished slack defending to level up the scores while Erling Haaland missed a penalty and had a header ruled out for offside after Silva passed up a great chance to extend the City lead before the equaliser.
Everton looked the side more likely to break the deadlock towards the end of another turgid City performance – City are now sixth and have every chance of dropping further down the table before the start of the weekend games.
City got off to a good start with Josko Gvardiol, City’s best goal threat after Erling Haaland this season, hitting the post with a header.
They predictably dominated the early exchanges and got ahead after Bernardo Silva got on the end of a Jeremy Doku cross and Jarrad Branthwaite’s attempted intervention only ended with the ball deflecting past Jordan Pickford after 14 minutes.
Orel Mangala curled a shot wide as Everton barely threatened the City goal and no longer had anything to hold on to after their early setback.
Bernado Silva lashed the ball wide after a great move involving Haaland and Foden.
And that sloppiness in front of goal came back to haunt City after Orel Mangala’s cross from the right took a slight deflection off Manuel Akanji to take it away from Rico Lewis and into an unmarked Iliman Ndiaye who picked his spot to beat Stefan Ortega.
City laid siege to the Everton goal from the start of the second half and shots by Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol were kept out before Savinho won a penalty for City after going down under a challenge from Vitaliy Mykolenko – a clear penalty.
Erling Haaland’s spot kick was saved but he appeared to have given himself a reprieve when Gvardiol headed the ball back to him to nod home the rebound but he was in an offside position.
Everton looked increasingly like a side that would stun City – with Abdoulaye Doucoure’s shot blocked by Rico Lewis with the City defence in disarray.
Kevin De Bruyne was introduced for the last 15 minutes for Jeremy Doku but he had a tall task ahead of him as Everton had a point to defend with six players in the back line and looked a side more likely to score as City offered plenty of gaps to play through on the break during their increasingly desperate attempts to win.
But in the end the Toffees were well worth their point – a third draw in a row against Arsenal, Chelsea and now toothless City as they battled their away to five points clear of the drop zone.
Embed from Getty ImagesPLAYER RATINGS – Manchester City 1, Everton 1
Stefan Ortega: 6. Routine save from Idrissa Gueye but was exposed for Iliman Ndiaye’s goal.
Rico Lewis: 6. Up against Iliman Ndiaye but outfoxed by a deflection before the Everton man equalised. Blocked volley by Abdoulaye Doucoure and blazed over a late effort.
Manuel Akanji: 5. Up against Dominic Calvert-Lewin but got unfortunate touch on a ball into the area to take it away from Rico Lewis behind him for the Everton equaliser and a late deflection off him could have gone anywhere.
Josko Gvardiol: 6. Played high and wide on the left, early header clipped the post.
Nathan Ake: 6. Solid defending despite his injury worries. Got the ball off Dominic Calvert-Lewin as he threatened to get away to face Stefan Ortega but Pep Guardiola did not want to risk him and took him off before the end.
Bernardo Silva: 7. Broke the deadlock by gambling on a run onto the box. Tried to curl in a second big chance but it didn’t come off.
Mateo Kovacic: 6. Sat at the base of midfield but wasn’t overly troubled by Everton who were preoccupied with stopping City deeper.
Savinho: 7. Played with less width and was given space to try and get balls into the box but should have had a goal today. Faded like many of the players towards the end.
Phil Foden: 6. More central role but only flashes of his talent – found it hard to operate in a crowd at times and took a booking in injury time as he tried to stop Everton from getting a run on goal.
Jeremy Doku: 6. Set up the opening goal for Bernardo Silva and remained dangerous coming inside but little else in terms of end product.
Erling Haaland: 6. No clear chances, precious little service, Jordan Pickford smothered the loose ball after a cross bounced off Jarrad Branthwaite.
Kevin De Bruyne (on for Jeremy Doku, 75): 6. Little impact coming off the bench at a late stage.
Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (on for Nathan Ake, 85): No time to mark
Ilkay Gundogan (on for Mateo Kovacic, 85): No time to mark
TEAM NEWS – Manchester City 1, Everton 1
City were missing almost an entire first team with injuries: Ederson, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Matheus Nunes, Rodri, Jack Grealish, and Oscar Bobb were all absent with issues.
Aside from those 8 first team players Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan had been hit with a virus and were only fit enough to join a bench full of youngsters including Thorsten Spike Brits who was involved in his first match day squad for City.
GOALS – Manchester City 1, Everton 1
Man City 1, Everton 0: 14. Bernardo Silva got on the end of a Jeremy Doku cross and his persistence against Jarrad Branthwaite was rewarded with a goal after the ball deflected in off the Everton defender.
Man City 1, Everton 1: 36. Iliman Ndiaye found himself completely free to score past Stefan Ortega after Orel Mangala’s ball into the area took a slight deflection off Manuel Akanji to take it away from Rico Lewis to leave the Everton winger unmarked.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City 1, Everton 1
Man City: Ortega, Lewis, Akanji, Gvardiol, Ake (Simpson-Pusey 85), Silva (C), Kovacic (Gundogan 85), Savinho, Foden, Doku (De Bruyne 75), Haaland
Man City Subs not used: Carson, Brits, Mubama, Alleyne, O’Reilly, McAtee
Bookings: Foden 90+4 (shirt pull on Armando Broja)
Goal: Silva 14
Everton: Pickford, Coleman (C) (Patterson 90), Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Mangala, Gueye, Doucoure, Harrison, Ndiaye (Lindstrom 81), Calvert-Lewin (Broja 70)
Everton Subs not used: Virginia, Keane, Beto, O’Brien, Chermiti, Armstrong
Bookings: Mykolenko 42 (foul on Jeremy Doku); Coleman (dissent 52); Mangala 80 (foul); Branthwaite 88
Goal: Ndiaye 36
Referee: Simon Hooper