Everton vs Man City LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Bernardo Silva goal caps impressive comeback
Everton 1-3 Manchester City: The champions trailed at half time but roared back after the break to send a message to Liverpool and Arsenal in the title race
Manchester City sparked life back into their Premier League title challenge as the champions came from behind to claim an important victory over Everton at Goodison Park.
City defeated Fluminense in Saudi Arabia on Friday to lift the Club World Cup for the first time but returned to the Premier League with ground to make up in the title race, starting the contest eight points behind leaders Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola’s side had only won once in their previous six Premier League outings and Jack Harrison stunned the visitors to give Sean Dyche’s battling Everton side a first-half lead.
But Phil Foden rifled in a stunning equaliser after half-time before Julian Alvaraz converted a penalty, given for a handball on Amadou Onana as he raised his arms to block Nathan Ake’s goalbound shot.
Bernardo Silva then punished an error from goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as City returned to fourth place ahead of hosting Sheffield United on Saturday. Relive the match and follow all the reaction below
Manchester City’s new talismanic duo lead statement Premier League comeback at Everton
Five days earlier, goals from Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden had rendered Manchester City officially the best team on the planet. Having swapped Saudi Arabia for Merseyside, they struck again to give them the status as the fourth finest side in the Premier League, at least according to the table. And for that slender prize, City could be grateful. Trailing at Goodison Park, with a solitary victory in their previous six league games, they had a new badge on their shirt, denoting their Club World Cup win, but were staring at an eight-point deficit to the Premier League summit.
Then came a comeback with a pair of familiar scorers, a win augmented by Bernardo Silva’s glorious finish into an empty net. For a side still shorn of Erling Haaland, who missed a sixth consecutive match and may not even be fit for the trip to Newcastle on 13 January, there had been a need for a catalyst.
Man City’s new talismanic duo lead statement Premier League comeback at Everton
Everton 1-3 Manchester City: Behind at Goodison Park and staring at an eight-point deficit to the top of the table, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez led an impressive comeback for the champions
Pep Guardiola on Manchester City’s win
“That’s why we are the world champions,” the Manchester City manager tells Amazon Prime. “I am going to remind them everyday. We have standards to keep, and we cannot let the standard go down. We improved really well in the second half. After six games with just one win, and people doubt us, it’s normal, but I still have the feeling that we want to be there.
“The away supporters are always good. Sometimes even more than at the Etihad. They travelled here to be with us and it’s nice to be with them.
“We saw that their central defenders jam a lot, so we wanted to drop Phil a bit and have runners into space. When we scored the second goal, we lost a bit of control, but the last ten, fifteen minutes we did really well.
“John Stones doesn’t look good. But we will see. It’s his ankle.”
Next up
Manchester City host Sheffield United on Saturday in their next game, the first of back-to-back meetings with Yorkshire clubs with a third round FA Cup tie against Huddersfield now on the horizon too. Everton, meanwhile, face a trip to Wolves, in good form and big winners earlier tonight at Brentford.
There are two more Premier League games tomorrow, each intriguing. Both Brighton and Tottenham have a clutch of key figures absent for their meeting at the Amex Stadium, while Arsenal will be eyeing top spot as West Ham make the short trip up from east London.
Sean Dyche on Everton’s defeat
“They are a very good side, we know that. You’ve got to try and stop their chances and we didn’t do that.
[On the Amadou Onana handball]: “That’s completely natural - he’s not trying to put his hand in the way to save it. How that is a penalty I don’t know? I don’t know who is giving what any more. All the managers are debating it. We all said on a Zoom call months ago saying, ‘what is going on with it?’ That can’t be a penalty because he is just throwing himself to block the ball.
“First half, I thought we were very good tactically. We had a great chance with Dom to get back in it but then it’s very tough. The penalty changes the feel of the game and what is going on.
“The mentality is very good. There’s a lot of good things even in tonight’s performance and they are showing that they are giving everything.”
Everton’s Jack Harrison on his side’s defeat
“I thought we started the first half really well and were realy organised. Maintaining that for 90 minutes is always difficult and we slipped in a couple of things, and it was costly today against one of the top sides. It’s something we just need to be aware of going forward.
“To maintain for 90 minutes is always the goal for us and we’ll be looking to do that going into the weekend. There is still a long season left, we can only control what we can do and keep going game-by-game.”
Phil Foden offers some post-match thoughts to Amazon Prime
“I thought we played really well in the first half, but it seemed to be the same story as previous games. The manager said at half-time to keep believing, that we haven’t got this [Club World Cup winners] badge on our chest for no reason. We had to keep believing in ourselves because we are a top team. I think in the second half we blew them away with the way we played. It’s a difficult place to come.
“I think we needed that first goal that I scored to give us momentum. Then we played tremendous football so I’m really happy. I’ve had a good run of games, and I like playing in the middle as well. Long may that continue. The most important thing is that we’ve won.
“We’ve got massive players to come back in. Hopefully it will make the team stronger - we need them at the moment, because we are short of numbers.”
FT: Everton 1-3 Manchester City
Everton remain 17th, with Luton a point back and now very much nipping at their heels after two consecutive victories. You could feel the energy of the Goodison Park crowd again in that first half but Sean Dyche might be slightly disappointed that his side did not manage to mount a late surge - though Dominic Calvert-Lewin did have an excellent opportunity at 2-1.
FT: Everton 1-3 Manchester City
Back into the top four, at least temporarily, go Manchester City, marking their return to Premier League action with victory. An uneven first half threatened another tough league outing for Pep Guardiola’s side but they reset impressively at the interval, and once Phil Foden produced a fine strike to level it felt like there was only going to be one direction of travel.
Everton 1-3 Manchester City, 90 + 5 minutes
Into the final 60 seconds of additional time signalled, with Ederson taking an aimless loft forward overhead. Sean Dyche brushes away a bit of fluff from his jacket - a decent performance from his side, but just never quite enough to match their visitors.
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