Manchester City dropped to two points behind Chelsea again following a 1-1 draw against Everton at Goodison Park. Fernandinho and Steven Naismith were both on target on a competitive day in Liverpool.
The first half started with The Blues on top, with Jesus Navas exploiting the right-wing and getting at Leighton Baines, with Stevan Jovetic in the middle. David Silva also provided valuable support for the attacking players.
Indeed, the Spaniard gave great chances to both Navas and Jovetic to put The Blues in front at Goodison, but neither were able to even direct their shots onto the target of Joel Robles, who remained relatively unbothered for much of the first half.
The best chance of the first half probably fell to Everton’s Seamus Coleman minutes before half-time, just seconds after Joe Hart saved well at the legs of Romelu Lukaku from close range. The Irishman received the ball 25 yards from City’s net, and fired off a shot that had the Englishman beaten, with the bar being the only barrier against Everton taking the lead.
In stark contrast to the first half, the momentum at the start of the second swung much more in the favour of Everton. Whilst City soon regained some, the first big chance fell again to Everton, this time with Romelu Lukaku. He broke down the left and found his way past Mangala, before firing his shot at the far post, a shot that required a fine diving save from Joe Hart to divert it wide.
It looked like Everton might have finally made the breakthrough in the game on 70 minutes, when Joe Hart dropped Leighton Baines’ free-kick at the feet of Phil Jagielka who put in. However, the goal was ruled out for a foul on Hart from Steven Naismith, who went into the back of the keeper whilst he had both hands on the ball, which caused him to drop it. A nervy, but correct, let-off for The Blues.
Minutes later though, City actually did break the deadlock thanks to Fernandinho, who’d taken up a much more attacking role in the absence of Yaya Toure. City went forward on the counter, and some good switch play from Silva set up Fernandinho in the box, albeit via a deflection. The Brazilian headed home, despite Coleman’s best efforts to clear the ball of the line.
However, it took just minutes for Everton to draw level, thanks to Steven Naismith. Leighton Baines put a cross in from out on the left, and Naismith was able to rise highest to head home for 1-1. Joe Hart must shoulder most of the blame for that equaliser, after he dived for the punch and missed the ball, allowing Naismith an almost empty net to aim for, and there was only ever going to be one result.
In the end, a draw was probably the fairest result for the day. Both teams gave it a go, and could have won it. City will regret not scoring earlier on, but the return of Aguero will be pleasing for some (even if he was a little rusty). Everton could take a lot of confidence from this after a recent run of poor results, and we could well see an improvement in form from them now.
