Haaland sinks Everton as Manchester City increases pressure on title rivals | first division

With a flick of his less-used right foot, Erling Haaland beat Jordan Pickford to score his first goal since late November and put city ​​of manchester on the way to getting the three points that, until that moment, seemed to elude them.

Everton's ploy to put pressure on Pep Guardiola's team had thrown them off balance, reducing the champions to an unusually average proposition. With City aiming for a historic fourth consecutive title, Haaland's intervention in a packed area was beautiful, as illustrated by Guardiola's jubilant reaction.

His second goal, via a classic counter-attack designed by Kevin De Bruyne, sealed a victory that briefly took City top until Liverpool returned to the top after defeating Burnley, and it was the kind of determined display from the that the victories in the championship are done. . It was also the tenth consecutive victory in all competitions.

Guardiola said: “It is a great achievement. I love winning these types of games, the difficulty is there, we knew it, we talked about suffering and knowing how difficult everything is. “Nothing is conceded, the way they celebrated the goals shows how difficult it was.”

This was Haaland's third appearance in a comeback after a stress fracture in a foot and seeing him whip the opener into a corner off Pickford's left arm was welcome for City. Despite a break of almost two months, it was his 15th league goal of the season. His 16th, which came in the 85th minute, twice moved him ahead of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah in the scoring charts.

Guardiola, for the umpteenth time, deserves credit after his decision to introduce De Bruyne in the 57th minute. Suddenly, City had more pace and guile, and it was the Belgian's cool turn and pass to Haaland that created their second goal. It was the 106th assist for the incomparable De Bruyne in the first division.

Haaland beat Jarrad Branthwaite and, as Pickford moved forward to reduce the angle, calmly slid to the goalkeeper's right. Cue the chaos among the celestial faithful and the sight of pure delight running across Guardiola's face.

Until Haaland's double, Everton had done what Sean Dyche's teams do: frustrate their opponents. His first attack set off alarm bells for City as the Toffees came close to scoring and Ederson was left in a heap. Jérémy Doku lost possession near the box, a sneaky pass from Dwight McNeil found a stampeding Ben Godfrey and the Brazilian goalkeeper threw himself at his feet as Nathan Aké tried to help. Replays showed the right back kicked Ederson in the head, perhaps inadvertently. Guardiola said: “(I) didn't see it, I can't give an opinion on it.”

Ederson recovered and one wondered how many more chances the visitors would create; cruelty would be paramount. Dominic Calvert-Lewin underlined this with a weak tap on Ederson's arms when a defence-splitting pass occurred, in a period that included copious slaps on Guardiola's thighs due to his team's heavy play.

With De Bruyne starting on the bench, his heir, Phil Foden, was positioned on the right instead of number 10 and was struggling to get into contention. He now acted, moving infield to take the ball in a central pocket and run down the left. This was more promising, as was Doku darting past Godfrey before flicking a cross onto the jumping Haaland's head.

But the Norwegian failed. City were missing De Bruyne's geometric eye, but when the teams took the field for the second half, the same lineup remained. The same goes for the pattern. Rodri or Matheus Nunes would make an explosion, pass the ball to Doku or Foden, and Everton would rush to quell the danger.

Eventually, De Bruyne was introduced by Nunes, with Kyle Walker replacing Manuel Akanji. The Belgian's opening salvo included quick movement and passing as Haaland drifted to the left and dodged a dangerous ball, but none of his teammates were able to finish.

All this changed in the 14 minutes it took the 23-year-old generational talent to score twice and end the contest. After the final whistle, De Bruyne's smile was broad: it said it all.

Of Haaland, Dyche said: “I've been talking to players recently about this: footballers who score trendy goals, Whippers, Dippers, Clippers. He doesn't think about that. He just scores a goal. That's the most modern thing you'll ever do. And he showed it.”

Guardiola said: “With Erling and Kevin we are stronger, it's obvious.” This poses a danger to City's competitors. Next Tuesday they will face each other in Copenhagen in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League, where they will begin the next phase to try to retain that title.