Everton 1 – 3 Man City
Everton’s final home game of 2023 ended in defeat as Manchester City eventually prevailed, but the key moment of the contest was laden with controversy as Amadou Onana was adjudged to have illegally handled in the box and Julian Alvarez scored what proved to be the winner from the spot.
The Toffees led last season’s treble winners at half-time thanks to Jack Harrison’s 29th-minute strike but a brilliant goal from Phil Foden levelled matters eight minutes into the second half before Alvarez drove home his penalty and a late Jordan Pickford error gifted Bernardo Silva City’s third with four minutes left of the regulation 90.
Sean Dyche had rotated his strikers, opting for Beto from the start, and deployed André Gomes in central midfield in the absence of the injured Idrissa Gueye while James Garner continued in the role behind the striker with Abdoulaye Doucouré still unavailable.
Pep Guardiola’s side started with their customary dominance of the ball and the hosts had Pickford to thank for the fact that the visitors didn’t grab the lead inside a quarter of an hour. The England goalkeeper saved well from Alvarez in the fourth minute and then denied the Argentine and Mateus Nunes with a terrific double-save after City had carved Everton open on the counter-attack.
Pickford was there again in the 24th minute with a smart one-handed save to keep Jack Grealish’s toe-poke out before the Blues started to make inroads at the other end. First, a corner was hooked clear from under City’s crossbar from a corner and, three minutes after that, Harrison struck.
Everton’s pressing forced a trio of defensive errors from City’s defence and when Rodri erred trying to pass it back to Manuel Akanji, Dwight McNeil pounced, cut the ball back from the byline and Harrison was there to slip it past Edersen from a couple of yards out and make it 1-0.
The on-loan winger came very close to making it 2-0 shortly afterwards when another corner fell to him just inside the box and his delicious effort with the outside of his boot was heading for the top corner before Edersen got his fingertips to it and pushed it over.
Man City were on course to extend their recent run to just one win in seven in the Premier League but they turned things up a notch again after half-time and Foden put his stamp on the contest with a fine goal.
The ball was worked to the England international outside the box and he picked a spot just inside the left-hand post of the partially unsighted Pickford and arrowed a shot into the net from 25 yards.
He almost doubled his tally straight away when Alvarez centred from the byline and Foden got a touch on it but the ball dribbled across the face of goal and past the far post.
Gomes’s needless trip on Grealish just outside the box handed Alvarez the chance to give the visitors the lead but Pickford batted his direct free-kick away. Two minutes later, though, he was given an altogether more routine opportunity when the officials decided to penalise Onana for handball.
The Belgian had slid across to block a shot from Akanji and the ball struck his arm as he tried to protect his face. Referee John Brooks was well-placed but didn’t elect to award a penalty until he had checked with his assistant, Lee Betts, who signalled for a spot-kick. Pickford got a foot to Alvarez’s conversion but couldn’t keep it out and it was 2-1 to City.
Dyche replaced Beto with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and switched Gomes out for Michael Keane in a 3-5-2 formation and with 15 minutes left, the first change almost paid dividends. Harrison fired a dangerous cross to the edge of the six-yard box but, under pressure from a defender and the goalkeeper, Calvert-Lewin could only sweep an effort inches past the near post.
Arnaut Danjuma then replaced Harrison with 10 minutes to go but, instead, it was Manchester City who scored next as Everton tried to play their way out from the back. Pickford’s attempted clearance from near the corner flag struck Alvarez, the ball pinged off Jarrad Branthwaite’s legs and fell to Bernardo Silva who lofted it into the empty net from 20-odd yards.
Foden tried to rub salt in the wounds with a couple of speculative shots late on, rattling the post in the first minute of stoppage time and then forcing one last parrying save from Pickford.
This was the first time Everton had lost having scored the first goal since Dyche took over 11 months ago and it was a harsh result given the Blues’ tireless running and the fact that they had worked so hard to take the lead.
Sadly, as the incident involving Rodri in this fixture three years ago, where the Spaniard got away with the most blatant of handballs, certain teams get questionable penalties awarded and others don’t. Guardiola and his men don’t need the extra help and there was no consolation for Dyche and Everton that the discussion among the pundits will likely feature plenty of sympathy for the home team.
The Toffees, who are now just a point above the drop zone because of that 10-point deduction and Luton’s recent revival, must shrug off a second disappointment in the space of four days, though, and prepare for another stern test, this time against in-form Wolves who hammered Brentford this evening and moved into 11th place in the table.