Erling Haaland had a penalty saved by Jordan Pickford to ensure Manchester City’s struggles continued as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Everton on Boxing Day.
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Bernardo Silva, sporting the City armband, fired Pep Guardiola’s side into a 14th-minute lead when his sliding shot deflected in off the boot of Jarrad Branthwaite.
But Everton dragged themselves level nine minutes before the interval through Iliman Ndiaye’s stunning finish, with the Senegal attacking midfielder expertly punishing some slack City defending.
Man City had a great opportunity to retake the lead, but Pickford's brilliant penalty save in the second half earned the visitors a point.
In making the save, Pickford became the first goalkeeper to prevent Haaland from scoring a penalty in the Premier League. The Norwegian had previously netted 15 of 16 spot-kicks taken in the competition, his only miss coming against Sheffield United in 2023 with a shot that hit a post.
The England goalkeeper has now kept out his last two spot-kicks faced in the Premier League, having also denied Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon in October.
City sit seventh on 28 points, while Everton are up to 15th, increasing the gap between themselves and the bottom three to five points.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
18 | +6 | 29 |
| 7 |
Man City
MCI
|
18 | +4 | 28 |
| 8 |
Fulham
FUL
|
18 | +3 | 28 |
| 9 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
18 | -3 | 28 |
How the match unfolded
Josko Gvardiol struck the post inside the opening three minutes from a short corner routine before dazzling footwork from Savinho forced Pickford into a smart low stop.
City’s dominance was rewarded soon after when Silva was slipped in by Jeremy Doku, with the Portugal international’s sliding shot deflecting off the boot of Branthwaite and squirming past Pickford.
Silva should have netted his side’s second but could only fire wide with the outside of his foot and that wasted opportunity was punished by a fine finish from Ndiaye after Abdoulaye Doucoure’s hopeful delivery into the box was not dealt with by Manuel Akanji.
The hosts had the opportunity to retake the lead eight minutes after the restart when Savinho was felled by Vitalii Mykolenko in the box, but Haaland saw his spot-kick saved by Pickford, and despite nodding in after Gvardiol’s header from the rebound, the striker was offside.
Despite a sustained spell of City pressure, Everton almost produced a sucker punch in the closing stages. Despite some promising counter-attacks, the closest they came was when Orel Mangala’s effort deflected off Akanji and skewed narrowly wide of Stefan Ortega’s far post.
Stuttering City get stuck against Toffees
City were still licking their wounds from a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa last time out, but history favoured a return to winning ways as they had gone 13 Premier League matches unbeaten against Everton at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League coming into this contest.
Guardiola, however, would have to do without some of his key players, naming a league matchday squad that did not feature at least one of Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ederson or Jack Grealish since 13 May 2017, a 2-1 win over Leicester City.
Silva’s early strike eased the tension among the home supporters, but another piece of poor defending allowed Ndiaye to strike.
City started quickly after the break in their search for the lead, with Haaland’s back-post header picking out Savinho to force a good save from Pickford, before the visiting goalkeeper showcased his shot-stopping ability from 12 yards against City's out-of-sorts No 9.
The hosts will have been aware of Everton’s defensive stubbornness and they looked increasingly unable to breach the Toffees’ stern defensive rearguard as the match progressed, despite throwing on Kevin De Bruyne.
They almost found themselves staring another defeat in the face, with Everton squandering several chances late on, and huge pressure remains on the champions before they visit Leicester next.
Another impressive draw for Everton
Having produced back-to-back 0-0 draws against two title hopefuls in Arsenal and Chelsea, Everton once again showcased their resilience against one of the top sides in the Premier League, albeit against an out-of-form City side.
After withstanding an early wave of City pressure, Mangala fired Everton’s first warning shot but was unable to test Ortega, though the German goalkeeper was called into action shortly after to pluck Idrissa Gueye’s rasping drive out of the sky.
Even though City had more of the ball and chances, the Toffees always displayed confidence when they ventured into the forward areas, with Ndiaye’s stunning finish a moment to remember for the travelling fans.
Branthwaite was on hand to ensure Everton kept the match level when Seamus Coleman gave the ball away to Phil Foden in a dangerous area, but for all their defensive brilliance, Mykolenko’s mistimed challenge on Savinho threatened to undo Everton’s good work.
However, Pickford came to their rescue, and Everton never looked likely to be breached from then on.
Sean Dyche may rue his side’s missed opportunities late on, most notably a four on two situation with Armando Broja leading the charge, but they were unable to make it count.
However, he will be encouraged by three impressive results before Everton face Nottingham Forest and AFC Bournemouth in two key matches before the FA Cup third round.
Club reports
Man City report | Everton report
What the managers said
Pep Guardiola: "Of course we need results and we didn’t get it. The team played really good again in all departments and unfortunately could not do it.
"Sometimes we were able to win every three days and every week, every week, every week and what happened we always thought of the next one and now when the situation is completely opposite it is on to the next one.
“We accept it. It is life. We did not expect it to not win games many, many times. But what do you have to do? Continue."
Sean Dyche: “I was worried about coming here today because it will change, at some point they will hurt someone, but I felt we handled it well - the underlying feeling that they will pull a result out of the bag at some point.
"Great energy from the players. We saved the penalty and Jordan [Pickford] and the analysis team deserve credit. Jordan made a lot of good decisions today. I am pleased overall with the performance and getting a point."
Next PL fixtures
Key facts
Pickford saved his seventh Premier League penalty with Everton, the joint-most for the club along with Tim Howard. In Premier League history, only Brad Friedel at Blackburn Rovers (10) and Jussi Jaaskelainen with Bolton Wanderers (nine) have recorded more penalty saves with one club.
Since the start of November, Man City have conceded 26 goals in all competitions. In that time, the only side from Europe's big five leagues to concede more is Germany's FC Heidenheim (28). City have shipped 62 goals in 2024, their most in a single calendar year since 2016 (67).
Everton manager Dyche is winless in all 16 of his Premier League matches against Man City’s Guardiola (D2 L14) – in Premier League history, only Steve Bruce against Sir Alex Ferguson (P17 W0 D4 L13) has managed more matches against another manager without winning.
Man City have conceded nine times in nine Premier League matches in which they’ve scored first this season, an average of one per game. That is their worst average in a season since the 2005/06 campaign (16 conceded in 13 matches, 1.23).
