Everton Dismantled by City at the Death
- Spirit of The News
- Apr 19
- 5 min read
Two goals in eight minutes from Pep Guardiola’s side were enough to dismantle the Toffees late on as City’s hunt for Champions League qualification continues.
Going into the game, the pressure was always on the Citizens to perform due to the downhill form suffered just before this calendar year. Between late October and late November, Manchester City suffered five consecutive losses, including a 4-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, which ended City’s 52-game unbeaten streak at the Etihad and the joint-heaviest streak under current manager Guardiola, with the other 4-0 being against the Toffees in 2017, the last time Everton beat City. It didn’t help that during this time frame, key players such as Stones, Akanji, and Rodri were sidelined as the blue side of Manchester seemed to be going through an injury crisis. The impact this had on their league position was detrimental. As of December 2024, Manchester City, who many had thought were going to thrive for their fourth league title in a row, were 12 points behind Liverpool, at the summit of the Premier League then and still are now, and are sitting in 7th place.
All of this therefore emphasises the importance of the game on Man City’s behalf, as before kick-off they were sitting in 6th place, with the opportunity to go above Nottingham Forest, into 4th place, for now, with a win against David Moyes’ side.
Lineups:
Everton:
Pickford
O'Brien
Tarkowski
Branthwaite
Mykolenko
Gueye
Garner
Ndiaye
Doucoure
Harrison
Broja
Manchester City:
Ortega
Nunes
Dias
Gvardiol
O’Reilly
Gonzalez
Gundogan
De Bruyne
Savinho
Silva
Marmoush
The game started quite evenly; an early shot from the edge of the box from Portuguese midfielder Matheus Nunes was aimed into the bottom right-hand corner in front of the Gwladys Street end, but a fully stretched Jordan Pickford was able to read it and palm the ball away. However, when Everton received a corner around the thirty-minute mark, the game seemed to light up. When ex-Manchester United player James Garner took the corner whilst receiving some stick from their local rivals, James Tarkowski towered above the bundle of bodies in blue and burgundy, with the 32-year-old getting his head onto it. With Ortega, City’s second-choice goalkeeper, filling in for an injured Ederson, scrambling for it, anything on target would have been sufficient enough to put the Blues ahead. However, the header struck the outside of the post and was quickly cleared away, with the majority of the Park End with their heads in their hands, and a unison sigh emerged across Goodison Park.
The first half was close to concluded, and City had one more chance, as Nunes’s shot was deflected into the empty space in the penalty area into the path of Kevin de Bruyne, who hit a left-footed curling shot while the few Everton players attempted to return to their set positions, which seemed to be going in. However, in a moment of desperation, Jake O’Brien, who has strived under Moyes, going from a backup to James Tarkowski, only making 2 substitute appearances under Sean Dyche and now being a regular name on the team sheet, threw himself at the ball, heading the ball away on the line to maintain the Toffees’ clean sheet for now and forcing the game to be goalless going into the break as Simon Hooper blew his whistle just moments later.
After the interval, Everton started brightly, as a long ball free kick was flicked on by Tarkowski into the path of Jarrad Branthwaite, who was one versus one with Ortega. The Everton youngster did the right thing by attempting to head it over the top of the German goalkeeper; however, the 32-year-old was aware of the plan of action and was able to put a strong arm out to block the lob over his head. Moments after, James Tarkowski went down injured with a hamstring injury, forcing the defender to be subbed off, being replaced by Michael Keane, who hasn’t played for the Blues since the 8th of February, when the Toffees suffered a 2-0 defeat in the FA Cup against Bournemouth. Questions were raised after the match as to whether a direct replacement of Tarkowski for Keane was the correct option or the alternative of putting Jake O’Brien at centre-back, his preferred position when playing for Lyon in France, and bringing on Scottish fullback Nathan Patterson to do a shift on the right-hand side. It wasn’t long until even more changes were made. For Everton, Armando Broja, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Harrison were all brought off the field of play in the space of 15 minutes, being replaced by Beto, Tim Iroegbunam, Carlos Alcaraz, and Dwight McNeil. On the other hand, Pep Guardiola made some changes, bringing on Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic for Nico Gonzalez as well as bringing Jeremy Doku on for Savinho, and it is safe to say the away side’s substitutes had a lot more of an impact than David Moyes’!
In the 84th minute, Everton were sitting back quite deep; a draw would have been a good result to keep the Blues marching on through the current tough run of form. However, when Bernardo Silva set Nunes on a run, beating Mykolenko, the Toffees were scrambling. When a direct pass was played into the path of Nico O’Reilly, the 20-year-old only had to tap it past Jordan Pickford, doing so and celebrating in front of the travelling City support, confirming the English youngster's back-to-back Premier League goals whilst putting City in the driving seat to claim all three points at the Grand Old Lady. Although the Evertonians at this point were in frustration, when Kevin de Bruyne was substituted, the Belgian international was clapped off the pitch as a mark of respect towards the Premier League legend. Not only has the 33-year-old stamped his legacy on world football throughout his long career, but he has also helped City overcome the Blues’ Merseyside rivals Liverpool on multiple occasions, preventing them from winning more domestic trophies than they already have!
Although undeserved, 3 minutes later Manchester City extended the deficit to two. When Jeremy Doku, who was incredible off the bench for the 23 minutes the 22-year-old was on the pitch, picked up the ball on the left-hand side, laying it off to Omar Marmoush, back to goal, so passing it to substitute Kovacic, slid in an attempt to win a possible duel with James Garner, with the Englishman not committing fully, and shot into the bottom left-hand corner, making it 2-0 to City. Although perhaps the result was a bit harsh on the Toffees, the reality is Man City’s quality is far beyond the current state of the Everton lineup, with manager David Moyes stating that the players “ran out of juice” in the second half. On the other hand, in Pep Guardiola’s post-match interview, the Portuguese manager spoke about Goodison Park, explaining that "My friend Ronald Koeman destroyed me the first time I came here in a 4-0, with Lukaku; I remember perfectly. The beginning of an incredible adventure that we are living and have lived for almost more than one decade,” with the 54-year-old adding that “it has been truly, truly an honour to come here to Goodison Park for many years. Today I was on the pitch [before the game] watching on the screen, watching all the goals [at Goodison Park over the years], and I said, 'Wow! This is English football; I would say a big win. We had to be so smart. With five or six games, winning here and Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, and Arsenal could not win here. Massively important."
Premier League Matchweek 33:
Saturday 19th April:
Brentford 4-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Crystal Palace 0-0 AFC Bournemouth
Everton 0-2 Manchester City
West Ham United 1-1Southampton
Aston Villa 4-1 Newcastle United
Sunday 20th April:
Fulham 14:00 Chelsea
Ipswich Town 14:00 Arsenal
Manchester United 14:00 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Leicester City 16:30 Liverpool
Monday 21st April:
Tottenham Hotspur 20:00 Nottingham Forest
Tuesday 22nd April:
Manchester City 20:00 Aston Villa
Wednesday 23rd April:
Arsenal 20:00 Crystal Palace
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