Manchester City found their way back to a 3-3 draw against Everton, but are now behind Arsenal in the table.
The Citizens went to Hill Dickinson Stadium with two games in hand relative to the Gunners. They needed to win both to equal them in points – and got off to a great start this evening.
A Jeremy Doku left-footed wonderstrike put City 1-0 up in a dominant first half. But two quick goals from Thierno Barry and Jake O’Brien put the Toffees on top and the Frenchman added another to make it 3-1.
When it seemed over, Erling Haaland responded immediately – straight from kick-off, in fact. Then Doku produced another magical goal to bring them level.
In the context of this match alone, a draw made the Citizens go back to Manchester satisfied. But it was a huge missed opportunity to stay on Arsenal’s track in their quest for the Premier League title. And they have no-one to blame but themselves.
How did Manchester City turn a dominant win into a ‘heroic’ draw?
Masterful first half
Manchester City played a near-perfect first 45 minutes at Hill Dickinson. It did take a Doku stunner for them to break the deadlock, but it was a dominant display that saw them limit the hosts to almost no attacking production.
| First-half stats | Everton | Manchester City |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 24% | 76% |
| Shots (on target) | 3 (0) | 12 (2) |
| Expected goals | 0.2 xG | 0.8 xG |
| Big chances | 0 | 0 |
| Touches in the opp box | 4 | 31 |
Pep Guardiola started the game looking to overload the central zones, as he has often done this season. But as the match went on and they pinned Everton inside their own box, he reverted back to a more structurally rigid, positional look stretching five forwards across the pitch.
However, players still had enough freedom to occupy other zones. It’s precisely what happened for the first goal, when Doku charged inside from the left and received the ball down the right.
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There was also a clear emphasis on working with cut-backs and back-passes whenever they got to the wings. The Citizens looked rather reluctant to shoot from distance, but the Belgian was the exception. He didn’t take his shot right away after receiving, but had only one thing on his mind and fired away after creating the space.
On the other end, the Toffees had next to nothing to show for going forward. Beto had a decent chance in a Merlin Rohl fast break, but couldn’t direct his shot.
City had a great defensive first half, recovering possession quickly and never allowing Everton to have continuity in their attacking plays.
Inexplicable second half
However, as it has been the case many times this campaign, everything changed in the second half.
City retracted and let Everton have more of the ball. Possession was close to even in the first ten minutes after the break and it gave them belief that they could eventually get back into the game. And they did with two quick goals.
First and foremost, the Citizens shot themselves on the foot – repeatedly. They eventually got possession back, but simply stopped pressing like they did to start the game.
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More than anything they did going forward, it was their out-of-possession work that made them dominate the opening 45 minutes. And they just threw that away in the second half unprompted.
Before conceding, they even allowed Iliman Ndiaye two chances to score – a decent one and a great one. But Gianluigi Donnarumma did well to deny him.
And then Marc Guehi played a back-pass too short and Barry reacted fast to put it past the Italian. Shortly after, Ndiaye took the ball from Abdukodir Khusanov way too easily and earned a corner kick. Jake O’Brien scored from it to put the hosts ahead.
A quick throw-in put Rohl through and his deflected shot fell into Barry’s right foot to make it 3-1. Three distinct defensive breakdowns that each led to an Everton goal.
Of course, David Moyes’ men reacted well to the new game scenario that Guardiola gifted them. Out of the eight shots with the highest xG values in the match, seven came from the Toffees. But it was ultimately City’s change in approach that enabled all of this.
| Manchester City stats | 1st half | 2nd half |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 76% | 74% |
| Shots (on target) | 12 (2) | 9 (2) |
| Shots faced (on target) | 3 (0) | 11 (6) |
| Big chances | 0 | 1 |
| Big chances faced | 0 | 3 |
| Touches in the opp box | 31 | 15 |
| Touches in the opp box allowed | 4 | 11 |
| PPDA | 6.9 | 12.5 |
Jeremy Doku saves the day
However, Jeremy Doku doesn’t care about expected goals, shot quality or any advanced metric.
Just like in the reverse fixture, his presence down the left generated the best advantages for Man City. Guardiola did well to exploit that and let him do whatever he wanted with Everton’s defence.
Jake O’Brien and Merlin Rohl, the Toffees’ right-sided starters, combined to win just 3/14 ground duels. Doku was a huge part of that.
The Belgian was also important to ‘break the routine’, so to speak. The Citizens looked way too comfortable passing the ball around the box.
But Doku was always looking to make a play down the touchline, get a cross off or shoot from distance – more than any teammate. In the end, it’s exactly what earned them a point that sould have been easy had they maintained the approach from the first half.
Now they will have to go back to hoping that Arsenal drop points in their remaining games against West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace in order to have a chance of lifting the Premier League trophy for the first time in two years.