Sterling spares Man City blushes
Manchester, Aug. 22: Raheem Sterling came on to score an 82nd-minute equaliser as 10-man Manchester City rescued a 1-1 draw against Everton in their opening Premier League home game on Monday.
Wayne Rooney put Everton ahead with his 200th Premier League goal before City home debutant Kyle Walker was contentiously shown a second yellow card following a collision with Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Sterling, a half-time substitute, rewarded heavy City pressure by slamming in a late equaliser and Everton also finished with 10 men after Morgan Schneiderlin, too, was given a debatable second caution. “I am pleased with all of them, but we lost two points,” City manager Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports.
“We are here for the results. At the end, we have to try to analyse the performance. Ten against 11, a Europa League team. We tried. We missed some chances at the end. Even though we scored, we could not win.”
Guardiola refused to answer questions about Walker’s dismissal.
City preserved their record of never having lost their first home Premier League game, but the main upshot was that Manchester United, Huddersfield Town and West Bromwich Albion now boast the only 100 percent records in the league.
While Guardiola was unable to avenge the 4-0 thrashing masterminded by his old Barcelona team-mate Ronald Koeman in January’s meeting between the teams at Goodison Park, there was steeliness to his side’s second-half reaction.
For Koeman, who gave a second-half debut to record £45 million recruit Gylfi Sigurdsson, this was a sign that his side are now genuine contenders for a Champions League place.
“They did not create a lot of open chances,” the Everton manager told BBC Sport. “They had the domination in the game and on the counter-attack. We had some good opportunities.”
Koeman conceded there were “doubts about both red cards”, but accused City’s players of trying to “influence the referee” following Walker’s dismissal in the 44th minute.
City made one change from their 2-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion, Leroy Sane replacing Danilo at left wing-back, and with Everton content to sit back and absorb pressure, the hosts took the game to them.
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was obliged to parry a rasping Nicolas Otamendi drive and Sergio Aguero teed up David Silva to crash a low shot against the lefthand post.
But the pace of CalvertLewin made Everton a constant threat on the break and shortly after Silva had rattled the woodwork, they went ahead in the 35th minute.
Sane’s under-hit pass let in Calvert-Lewin and he skipped past Fernandinho before crossing for Rooney, who stroked the ball between Ederson’s legs before provocatively cupping his ears in celebration.
Guardiola introduced Sterling in place of Gabriel Jesus at the interval and the former Liverpool man led the charge for an equaliser.
We are here for the results. At the end, we have to try to analyse the performance. Ten against 11, a Europa League team. We tried. We missed some chances at the end. Even though we scored, we could not win.
PEP GUARDIOLA