![\"Chelsea's](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/538395e44a3897559e5e95cdadd4b67b18651cec\/0_41_3906_2343\/master\/3906.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=316d364340be220d6c85ec77d497e38f\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCity have found it harder to conquer\u00a0Premier Leagueopposition than \u201cthe world\u201d of late. The champions had won only once in six league games prior to the visit to Goodison and were again without Erling Haaland, who has been absent since the defeat at Aston Villa on 6 December with a foot injury. The striker\u2019s return does not appear on the immediate horizon either, judging by Guardiola\u2019s rather downbeat pre-match assessment. \u201cStill he\u2019s not with the team,\u201d the City manager said. \u201cHe feels better but he hasn\u2019t made one training session with us. Hopefully in January he can come back with us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How City could have done with Haaland in the first half. His finishing prowess and physical presence were sorely missed by the visitors, who controlled proceedings before they fell behind but lacked the cutting edge to make it count. Everton\u2019s defence was relatively comfortable and saved by Jordan Pickford on the few occasions it was breached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Everton goalkeeper made four telling saves with the game goalless. Pickford denied \u00c1lvarez at close range when Jack Grealish presented the Argentina striker with the first chance of the contest. James Tarkowski threw himself in the way of Phil Foden\u2019s follow-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matheus Nunes should have edged City ahead when played through on goal by \u00c1lvarez but Pickford saved well with his legs. The rebound fell perfectly for \u00c1lvarez but he too was thwarted by an outstretched leg. Grealish was also unable to find a way past Pickford when he darted into the Everton area and poked a shot towards the far corner. Everton had barely tested the City defence by that point. The willing Beto, in for the rested Dominic Calvert-Lewin, was given the often thankless task of pursuing hopeful punts deep into City\u2019s half with precious little back-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The home crowd had to entertain themselves with fits of laughter in response to City supporters singing: \u201cYou cheating bastards, you know what you are\u201d, following\u00a0Everton\u2019s 10-point deductionfor one breach of Premier League financial rules. The hearing into City\u2019s 115 charges remains sitting in an extremely long pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goodison suddenly roused itself, however, when Dyche\u2019s team took the lead from their first attempt on goal of the first half. It was a calamity for the usually imperious Rodri. The defensive midfielder was in the process of clearing an Everton attack on the edge of his penalty area when, under pressure from Beto, he slipped in possession and inadvertently released Dwight McNeil to the byline. With the visiting defence caught out, McNeil pulled a simple cross along the face of goal for Jack Harrison, the former City winger, to beat Ederson with a precise, close-range finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harrison went close to doubling Everton\u2019s lead minutes later when an Andr\u00e9 Gomes corner dropped at his feet via the head of Tarkowski. The on-loan Leeds midfielder swept a shot towards the top corner with the outside of his left foot. A second beckoned but Ederson produced an outstanding save to flick the ball away with his fingertips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n City\u2019s problems mounted when John Stones sustained what appeared to be a serious injury. The defender rolled his ankle while dispossessing Beto with a superb challenge. An eventual offside flag against the Everton striker, raised while Stones was in agony on the ground, underlined the danger of allowing play to continue in an offside situation. The former Everton player\u2019s attempts to continue were in vain and he was sportingly applauded off by both sets of supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guardiola\u2019s team were being tested on all fronts. And, like any good champion, they dug deep to deliver a convincing response. The second half brought a vast improvement in City\u2019s movement and intensity, along with the reward of a swift equaliser. Bernardo Silva and Nunes served notice of the visitors\u2019 improved threat when combining to prise open Everton\u2019s defence on the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tarkowski cut out the midfielder\u2019s dangerous low cross at the expense of a corner, that City worked from one side of the Everton box to the other and back again. When Silva laid the ball back for Foden he unleashed a stunning 25-yard drive that flew over the outstretched leg of Beto and inside Pickford\u2019s left-hand post. The keeper was soundly beaten by the pace and accuracy of the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pickford did well to prevent \u00c1lvarez\u2019s free kick finding the top corner but was beaten again when City were awarded a contentious penalty after Nathan Ak\u00e9\u2019s shot struck Amadou Onana\u2019s hand. There was no question Onana\u2019s arm was raised but Everton would argue the midfielder was in close proximity to the City defender when he turned to shoot inside the area. John Brooks, the referee, initially ignored City\u2019s appeals before pointing to the spot on the advice of his assistant. VAR backed up the decision and \u00c1lvarez fired the spot kick down the middle of Pickford\u2019s goal and just under the keeper\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silva sealed the victory following a poor clearance by Pickford, who delayed a clearance before striking it against \u00c1lvarez and then Jarrad Branthwaite. Silva pounced on the loose ball to curl an excellent finish around the stranded goalkeeper and into the unguarded net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The trip to Saudi Arabia, or more accurately the title of\u00a0Club World Cup champions, seems to have done Manchester City the power of good. Pep Guardiola\u2019s team returned from lifting their fifth trophy of 2023 to restart\u00a0their defence of the Premier League title\u00a0with an impressive win at Everton. City trailed at the interval and seemed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":41014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[4173,2824,5304,7034,2115,8924,9194,11293,9331,9171,5262,9478,6310,306,5247,7090,803,7827,1966,8137,11294,4761,6654,9606,3874,8382,7225,1968,12791,11252,501,8126,12287,12187,10691,11973,4082,9605,2104,10917,267,11604,8160,1364,9761,11259,7419,6348,10885,36,5248,594],"class_list":["post-41013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-argentina","tag-aston-villa","tag-attack","tag-bernardo-silva","tag-calvert-lewin","tag-chance","tag-charges","tag-cheating","tag-city","tag-crowd","tag-cut","tag-dropped","tag-erling-haaland","tag-everton","tag-football","tag-games","tag-goalkeeper","tag-goodison","tag-guardiola","tag-haaland","tag-injury","tag-jack-grealish","tag-jordan","tag-julian-alvarez","tag-lead","tag-leeds","tag-loan","tag-man-city","tag-manager","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-city","tag-match","tag-movement","tag-n","tag-onana","tag-one","tag-pep-guardiola","tag-phil-foden","tag-pickford","tag-poor","tag-premier-league","tag-rodri","tag-saudi","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-shoot","tag-shot","tag-the-game","tag-us","tag-victory","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41015,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41013\/revisions\/41015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Phil](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/0aa9e490a90a29880b1910efab8d0d99dbb49dfb\/0_87_3484_2091\/master\/3484.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none\")