It is incredible how much a week in football can change. Man City were in danger of going 7 points behind Liverpool if they won at Leicester but after the 2-0 victory at Everton, City are top on goal difference.
The lineup was interesting from Guardiola as many retained their places; apart from Sterling who was dropped for Sané and De Bruyne who was dropped for Stones. City started fast and looked as if they were gunning for all three points, the link up play was superb and many defence splitting balls were played out on the left to Sané. They would have been effective had the German stayed onside.
However, City still created a host of chances and should have taken the lead when Gundogan hit the bar from close range and Laporte missed an easy header from a Sané corner. The away side took the lead with a fantastic header from Laporte, which was made so much better by the timing of his run.
Everton were also dramatically improved from their defeat against Wolves and despite reports that they were going to gift the game to City, they fought hard and looked like a team who had not been struggling.
This was evident in the second half as the pressure Everton piled on City did look as if it would get them back into the game. The most notable chance was when Walker misplaced a pass to Stones and Richarlison played a through ball to Tosun which Ederson dealt with quickly. It was not a vintage Man City performance but they ground out this result; as shown by the second goal in the 90+7th minute when De Bruyne forced an error and played Jesus through on goal who finished off the rebound.
Here’s how we rated the Man City players from the game:
