In another Evertonian world, this would have been the perfect smash-and-grab raid at the home of the stumbling Champions and a first Blues victory at the Etihad Stadium for more than a decade. Having survived an early scare when City hit the woodwork, escaped going 2-0 down when Jordan Pickford denied Erling Haaland from the penalty spot and then successfully stifled Pep Guardiola’s side in the second half, Everton had the chance to take all three points.
If Sean Dyche’s men had anything about them on the counter-attack — a few drops of whatever elixir they drank before that famous 5-1 win at Brighton in May last year, perhaps — they could well have heaped more misery on Pep and his fallen angels when the raced away on a four-on-two break in stoppage time. As it was, they failed to even force Stefan Ortega into making a save and had to settle for what was still a hugely creditable 1-1 draw.
It was a neat summation of where Everton currently are under Dyche — intently focused once again on getting men behind the ball, defending manfully and remaining hard to beat. They have ground out draws against Arsenal, Chelsea and, now, City this month but goals remain in painfully short supply. The 4-0 win over Wolves earlier this month stands in sharp relief to the barren sequence either side that features just two goals from eight games.
The manager will, no doubt, look to the upcoming home games against Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Tottenham and, perhaps, the trip to Bournemouth as opportunities to get back to scoring ways now that this horrible run against three of last season’s top four is out the way and he will take enormous satisfaction at coming away from the Etihad Stadium with a point.
This wasn’t vintage City by any means but they were typically enterprising and dangerous coming forward. And had Joško Gvardiol planted header off a corner an inch or so to the right rather than thumping the ball off the post, the hosts would have put themselves firmly in the driving seat against the goal-shy Toffees in only the third minute.
As it was, they only took another 11 minutes to make the breakthrough, albeit in fortunate circumstances. The slipperyJeremy Doku collected Gvardiol’s pass and threaded it inside to Bernardo Silva but as Jarrad Branthwaite lunged across to block, the Portuguese’s attempted centre took a deflection that looped over Pickford’s glove and nestled in the far corner.
To Everton’s credit, they tried to respond but when Iliman Ndiaye squared Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s chest-off for Orel Mangala, the Belgian couldn’t wrap his foot sufficiently around a 25-yard shot to bend it back towards the target. Then, when Ndiaye’s corner was only cleared as far as Idrissa Gueye, he fired Everton’s first shot on target back from the edge of the box but Ortega was equal to it.
In between, Haaland had been demonstrating his ever-present threat, particularly marauding in search of balls over the top but Pickford was alive to the danger on a couple of occasions.
The England man probably should have been picking the ball out of the net a second time in the 33rd minute, however, when Silva timed his arrival in the box to meet a gilt-edged chance from near the penalty spot but his attempt to rap it home with the outside of his left foot flew wide of the target.
Three minutes after that, it was 1-1, with Ndiaye showing the kind of composure and finesse in front of goal that City’s No 20 had lacked. Abdoulaye Doucouré, again looking effective playing in the role behind the striker, crossed from the right side of the opposition area and when Manuel Akanji could only help it on with a raised knee, it dropped invitingly to Ndiaye. A deft touch to control and then a rapid-fire caressed finish back across the keeper later, Everton were level.
No doubt geed up by a Guardiola half-time team talk, City emerged for the second half apparently keen to re-establish their lead in a bid to improve on a remarkable run of nine defeats from their previous 12 in all competitions. It’s almost inconceivable form for a team that has looked so invincible at times in recent years but the loss to long-term injury of Rodri has had an unforeseen impact on their entire demeanour.
Savinho, arguably the home side’s most dangerous player on the day, forced a decent parried save from Pickford that fell to Mateo Kovacic but he lashed the rebound wide. However, when the young Brazilian winger’s feet were too quick for Vitalii Mykolenko and the Ukrainian tripped him in the box, referee Simon Hooper has no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
With Seamus Coleman putting on some “shit-housery” to try and disrupt Haaland’s preparation for the penalty and Pickford using noises and faces to complete the job, Everton avoided falling behind again. The England keeper guessed the right way and pushed what was a fairly poor spot-kick away and though Haaland converted a simple header when the ball was swung back in, he was clearly offside and the “goal” was chalked off.
Surprisingly, and much to the chagrin of the home punters, that was as close as City would come to winning the match as Everton dug in and frustrated them for long periods to the point where, even after Kevin de Bruyne had been introduced off the bench, Guardiola’s outfit seemingly ran out of ideas. The hosts would record just five shots on target in the 90-plus minutes and Lewis ballooning a stoppage-time shot high over the bar rather summer up their afternoon.
Instead, it was Everton who came closer to claiming the points. Doucouré was unfortunate that his back-post volley off Jack Harrison’s cross hit Rico Lewis and deflected behind in the 64th minute.
Then, after Armando Broja had replaced Calvert-Lewin and then Jesper Lindstrøm had come on for Ndiaye who was struggling with tightness in his calf, Mangala came close to a dramatic winner with seven minutes to go. Sadly, his shot from 20 yards out took a wicked deflection off Akanji and while it could have gone anywhere, it dropped the wrong side of the upright from Everton’s perspective.
That wasn’t the end of the chances, though, as Dyche’s team would have two more on the breakaway in stoppage time. Broja sent Doucouré down the channel but when Harrison moved it on to Gueye arriving on the right, his attempted cross into the six-yard box was blocked for what should have been awarded as a corner.
Then with three other black shirts haring forward as Broja drove into the City half with just two sky blue players in retreat ahead of them, it eventually fell to Harrison on the edge of the box but he took took many touches trying to set himself and he, too, was charged down and the chance was lost.
Typically pragmatic afterwards, Dyche said: “We had chances to break away in the second half and one right near the end where you wonder whether we could have nicked it, but I think it would have been harsh on them. I think we take the point.” Just like at the Emirates and against Chelsea a few days ago, a point is probably the height of the manager’s ambitions and the point extends Everton’s recent record to two defeats in 13.
Just three wins all season means that the Blues can’t escape the gravitational pull of the relegation zone, however, and sooner or later, Dyche’s side is going to have to start scoring goals and winning matches. With the new owners taking stock of what they have purchased and making plans for the future — short-, medium- and long-term — the onus is on the manager to demonstrate he can get more out of his players in an attacking sense now that this treacherous December is almost over.