One swing of the boot. Not left, the right. One big old swing and Erling Haaland is back. Back in the goals, back manically storming towards a baying corner of the Etihad Stadium like none of this had ever happened before. Back to further lift this latest title defence.
2023/2024 Premier League
2-0
Match Report
And how they required his intervention. Manchester City had not managed a shot on target all afternoon. Everton settled in and, with 19 minutes of this left, were becoming increasingly comfortable with buying time. One man down, two men down, impatience in the stands. A fidgeting home bench. Certainly a recipe for something.
Then a bouncing ball dropped, eight yards from Jordan Pickford’s line. A crowded penalty area but nobody got near it once Haaland connected. Had Pickford managed to place a firmer hand on the shot he might well have lost a finger.
A purer strike of a football you will not see. He ended the day with a couple, 52 in the Premier League from 53 appearances now in an unerring pursuit of rewriting history. More importantly for City in the short term, they would have dropped important points without him.
Pep Guardiola had warned that the lunchtime start presented danger and that proved prescient. Not so much the atmosphere, and Everton’s spoiling tactics perversely helped in that regard, but just some lethargy in their general play. Bigger names were rested and those beneath did nothing to dislodge them for future weeks.
A struggle. A struggle to the top of the Premier League, where they will stay until Liverpool play mid-afternoon, and a first taste of that position since November. Unified in their distaste for Richard Masters and his board maybe but that is where the similarities end between these two, a clash of styles.
Ian Woan flashed some knowing glances to the bench. No Sean Dyche, up in the posh bit serving a touchline ban, but Everton’s game plan had City frustrated and, seemingly, running out of ideas. Woan knew this, seeing Jack Harrison skew the first-half’s best chance high and wide.
Guardiola had barracked his players no less than seven times before the break and even a ballboy copped for some when failing to return it with enough haste. Arms outstretched, visibly agitated at a lack of movement in midfield. All a bit slow, all a bit ponderous as Kevin De Bruyne sat among the substitutes.
Before the Belgian’s 57th-minute introduction, Guardiola had asked if he felt ready – pointing to the champions still needing to manage their talisman’s fitness in what seems a no-risk approach.
It was a wonder Guardiola left it so long, really, given the lack of spark during an early kick off where Haaland had been starved of service but also anybody close by to play off him. Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski were dealing with the Norwegian without interference from elsewhere.
But the temperature went up a notch once De Bruyne entered. Ben Godfrey had been forced off through injury, the veteran Seamus Coleman replacing him, and that in turn gave Jeremy Doku some additional pepper.
That had been in short supply. Everton – two banks of four, Harrison in behind an isolated Dominic Calvert-Lewin – had not faced a shot on target until Haaland thumped in his first, capitalising on confusion at a corner that Everton argue should not have been awarded.
It’d been 18 months since City failed to make a goalkeeper work in any first 45 minutes at home. And Everton had grown in confidence.
But as well as they defended, Haaland ultimately became too much to handle. With Dyche’s side making a concerted effort of venturing forward in numbers now, they were picked off. De Bruyne had an unusual amount of space, saw Haaland rampaging into a space on Branthwaite’s blindside.
Knocking the central defender off balance, he bore down on Pickford. The England goalkeeper realised where it was going, across his body, yet remained powerless.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
9' Ederson makes good save
14' Lewin's Iob shot over the bar
27' Haaland's header over the bar
36' Pickford makes decent save
47' CHANCE! Akanji's shot stopped!
49' Alvarez's long shot wide out
54' Yellow Card! Gueye booked
71' GOAL! Man City 1-0 Everton (Haaland)
85' GOAL! Man City 2-0 Everton (Haaland)
90' Disallowed! Beto scores but the goal is offside
Line-ups
Man City XI: Ake, Stones, Ederson, Ruben Dias, Akanji, Rodri, Haaland, Foden, Julián Álvarez, Matheus Nunes, Jérémy Doku
Subs: Walker, De Bruyne, Stefan Ortega, Grealish, Bernardo, Josko Gvardiol, Oscar Bobb, Rico Lewis, Jacob Wright
Everton XI: Young, Gueye, Pickford, Godfrey, Tarkowski, Calvert-Lewin, Jack Harrison, Vitaliy Mykolenko, McNeil, Garner, Jarrad Branthwaite
Subs: Coleman, Keane, João Virgínia, Beto, Amadou Onana, MacKenzie Hunt, Nathan Patterson, Lewis Dobbin, Chermiti