After suffering back-to-back defeats at the hands of two late winners from their opponents, Everton faced Manchester City, hoping to return to winning ways. After dropping two points, David Moyes’s men found themselves drifting away from the European spots. Tonight would be the toughest test of the lot as Man City aimed to keep pace with Arsenal at the top of the table.
Moyes confirmed a slight injury to Idrissa Gana Gueye meant the all-action veteran was replaced by Tim Iroegbunam. Merlin Rohl was also called upon, replacing Dwight McNeil, with Moyes clearly prioritising physicality over creativity. Beto replaced Thierno Barry following his return from concussion.
Having named an attacking line-up, Man City looked to control proceedings from the off, penning Everton back to their own 18-yard box. The overloads on the left especially caused the Blues a lot of problems, with Jeremy Doku, Nico O’Rielly and even Marc Guehi fluidly changing positions down the flank.
Despite the onslaught, Everton arguably created the biggest opening of the half as a couple of composed passes from James Tarkowski and Iroegbunam allowed Jake O’Brien to feed Rohl down the right wing. The makeshift winger showed impressive speed to break away from the backtracking Man City defenders. Rohl reached the box and slid the ball across the area towards Beto. Gianluigi Donnarumma managed to get a hand to it, and Beto hurriedly struck the loose ball onto a defender and out for a corner.
As the clock ticked on towards half time, a 0-0 scoreline felt like a win for the Toffees as most of the half was spent chasing shadows. However, on the 43rd minute, Man City’s pressure told, and Doku rifled in a strike from the edge of the box after Iroegbunam failed to clear his lines. The visitors more than deserved their lead, and as Michael Oliver blew his whistle, perhaps Pep Guardiola’s side had reason to be disappointed not to have killed the game there and then. Just before the break, Michael Keane flew into a challenge with Doku, and despite winning the ball, Oliver brandished a yellow card. A quick VAR check deemed it to be sufficient despite Man City’s protestations for a harsher punishment.
Moyes refrained from making changes for the second half, but the Scot had clearly sparked life into his players as James Garner, Iroegbunam and Rohl especially looked more energised and were more physical against their opponents. Man City continued to shift the ball around, but Everton looked more of a threat going forward.
A frantic sixteen-minute spell completely changed the tie on its head. The visitors failed to deal with a high ball on the 65th minute and Illiman Ndiaye latched on and drove towards the 18-yard box. The winger burst through the defenders and found himself one-on-one with Donnarumma, but his shot was denied by the goalkeeper. Barry was heavily criticised for his cameo in the Merseyside Derby, offering very little up top; however, the young Frenchman clearly had a point to prove and caused problems for the Man City backline. It was Barry who got Everton back in it after capitalising on an inexplicable back-pass from Marc Guehi, coolly slotting the ball into the net.
A mere five minutes later, Everton won a corner. Garner, to the tune of ‘there’s only one Jimmy Garner’, whipped the ball towards O’Brien, who rose highest to nod the ball in and put his team in the lead. Hill Dickinson erupted, and if the stadium rocked after the second, the noise after the third was deafening. Rohl, who was enjoying the physical challenge on the pitch, broke down the wing once again, and his scuffed effort stumbled towards Barry, who stood alone to poke it in.
After prolonged celebrations from the Everton players, Man City pulled a goal back within seconds of the restart. Erling Haaland was fed through and delicately chipped the ball over Pickford, who jumped out, furiously berating his teammates. Suddenly, everyone of an Everton persuasion knew how nervy the next minutes would be. As Man City pressed, needing a goal to help their Premier League ambitions, Everton counter-attacked, and Ndiaye found himself through on goal again. Obviously wanting to make amends for his missed opportunity earlier, the winger once again went alone but scuppered his chance to restore a two-goal lead for the Blues.
During a corner for the home side, Bernardo Silva wasn’t punished after wrestling Rohl to the ground. Silva was totally disinterested in the ball, and focused all his efforts on spearing the German to the ground. Neither Oliver nor the VAR officials saw it as a penalty.
Guardiola’s men threw the kitchen sink at the wall of Royal Blue guarding the goal. In true Everton fashion—certainly keeping the recent trend—the opposition found the net deep into stoppage time. A corner taken after the six minutes allocated by Oliver found its way to Doku on the edge of the box. The Belgian curled the ball into the net. It meant that four points were now dropped in the last three games in stoppage time.
Despite a hammer blow right at the death, this felt like a true ‘lift-off’ moment for the stadium. Hill Dickinson had seen a few memorable moments during the season, thanks to the efforts of the 1878s, but this felt like Goodison 2.0.
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