Everton 1-3 Manchester City: Hits and flops

Everton 1-3 Manchester City: Hits and flops | Premier League 2019/20

Modified Oct 01, 2019 05:03 GMT

Manchester City entered the encounter on the wrong end of a massive 8-point gap at the top of the table with Liverpool capitalising on an early kickoff to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table.

However, at the end of the day, the Cityzens closed the gap to 5 points via a 3-1 victory over Everton.

Gabriel Jesus opened proceedings with a goal in the 24th minute but a few minutes later, Dominic Calvert-Lewin cancelled the lead.

They entered the interval all square and after the break, both sides made incessant incursions into opposing defences. The stalemate was broken for the second time in the game when Riyad Mahrez curled a beautiful freekick past Jordan Pickford 19 minutes from time.

Raheem Sterling put the final result beyond doubt as he thumped his shot off the bar and into the goal in the 84th minute. A vibrant challenge from Everton but in the end, Pep Guardiola's charges were hell-bent on reducing the gap between themselves and Liverpool at the top of the table.

In this article, we highlight some individual performances in the encounter.

Honourable mentions: Ederson Moraes (Hit), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Hit), Richarlison (Hit), Raheem Sterling (Hit)

Hit: Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City)

Gabriel Jesus got the ball rolling with a brilliant header in the 24th minute, evading the Everton attackers to ease Mancunian tensions early on as he dived onto the end of a Kevin De Bruyne cross.

The 22-year-old Brazilian had a total of 4 shots in the game, as he continued to trouble the Everton defence with a series of attacking combinations with his teammates.

Hit: Seamus Coleman (Everton)

The Everton skipper tormented Manchester City for much of the game and he had a brilliant match. The 30-year-old had a total of 3 successful tackles in the game and he had the most dribbles completed with 8.

Perhaps his most obvious contribution came in the 33rd minute when he latched onto Alex Iwobi's pass in the box and lobbed Manchester City's Ederson Moraes. Calvert-Lewin was on hand to pounce on the resultant loose ball at the mouth of the City goal.

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#Flop: Jordan Pickford (Everton)

Manchester City edged Everton by a freekick in the second half and perhaps the biggest culprit was The Toffees' shot-stopper, Jordan Pickford. He fluffed his lines on that one, as his reaction to the flight of the ball was somewhat too slow.

The ball crept past him and into the bottom right corner. However, that was meant to be the angle he had covered because the wall had the other angle secured.

He should have done better with that one, but he seemed to have been ball watching rather than defending the weak spot.

Hit: Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)

Riyad Mahrez was in red hot form throughout the encounter, as he linked up with his teammates brilliantly, dribbled his way past the opposition time & again, took more than a few shots at goal, and most importantly scored the tiebreaker for Manchester City in the 71st minute.

The Algerian winger curled a free-kick from 20 yards past Jordan Pickford with the keeper looking bemused as he reacted rather late to the shot.

The 28-year-old had a game-high total of 5 shots, with all hitting the target. He also completed the highest number of key passes in the game with 5.

Hit: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

Kevin De Bruyne (R) in action for Manchester City

The Belgian international, Kevin De Bruyne, was once again at the heart of the Manchester City attack. Everything flowed through him and it makes one wonder how City were able to cope without such an integral player for much of last season.

He continually harried the Everton defence in this game, directing City's attacking procession with pinpoint passes, crosses, runs into the box and shots. He continually connected the dots for the Cityzens as he freely roamed the midfield, linking up superbly with the likes of Sterling, Jesus and Mahrez.

His most notable contribution came in the first half, as he chipped a superbly weighted cross to Jesus from midfield and the Brazilian finished with aplomb to put City ahead in the 24th minute of play.

De Bruyne was immaculate in this game, as he was a thorn in the Toffees side throughout. His beautiful display was enough to earn him the King of the Match gong for this encounter.

Edited by Shashwat Kumar