Stylish City ease past Everton
MANCHESTER City moved back to second place in the Premier League after a stylish 3-0 win over Everton at the Etihad Stadium yesterday as Pep Guardiola’s side responded to convincing Chelsea and Liverpool wins with a reminder of their class.
Champions City dominated possession from the start but created few real openings in the opening half hour.
Guardiola was left frustrated when a penalty was awarded after Raheem Sterling went down under a challenge from Michael Keane, but referee Stuart Attwell overturned his decision after reviewing the incident at the pitchside monitor.
Sterling did put City ahead a minute before the break, sidefooting home after a magnificent pass with the outside of his foot by fullback Joao Cancelo.
Spanish midfielder Rodri made it 2-0 with a thundering strike from over 20 metres out that whistled past Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Sterling missed a great chance to end the contest, but mis-controlled the ball in front of goal after a low cross from Riyad Mahrez.
Cole Palmer, the 19-year-old making his first Premier League start, had set Mahrez through for that opportunity and it was his blocked shot that was pounced on by Bernardo Silva, who calmly slotted home the third.
“We gave rhythm into our game. They defended really well, so deep, (playing) on the counterattack. In general we controlled the game. We played the game we should play to beat teams like Everton,” Guardiola said.
“When one team comes just to defend, it is always going to be difficult and you have to be careful. The quality of the players we have made the difference.”
Chelsea lead the table on 29 points, with City three points behind and Liverpool one further back in third.
Rafa Benitez’s Everton are without a win in six games and are 11th on 15 points.
Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side need to channel their energy into learning from their mistakes after Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Liverpool, ahead of a busy schedule which will see them play nine times in all competitions until the end of the year.
A touchline row between Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Arteta fired up the home fans and players at Anfield before a fourgoal salvo sent Arsenal packing.
The result ended an eight-game unbeaten run for the north London side, who have not won a league game at Anfield since 2012 when Arteta was still playing for them.
“It is one of the toughest places to play football in Europe and in the moment something goes a little bit wrong or the timing is not right, you get punished and they deserved to win the game,” Arteta said.
“I don’t like learning like that, but there’s a lot of learning that we can take from the game, for sure. One of the biggest learnings after a disappointing result is focus tomorrow on the next one.
“We’ll look at what we should have done better and why we got punished the way we did, and after that put our energy and focus on the next game.”