Haaland misses penalty as Man City are held by Everton

Erling Haaland had a penalty saved by Jordan Pickford to make sure Manchester Metropolis’s struggles continued as they had been held to a 1-1 dwelling draw by Everton on Boxing Day.

Bernardo Silva, sporting the Metropolis armband, fired Pep Guardiola’s aspect right into a 14th-minute lead when his sliding shot deflected in off the boot of Jarrad Branthwaite.

However Everton dragged themselves stage 9 minutes earlier than the interval via Iliman Ndiaye’s beautiful end, with the Senegal attacking midfielder expertly punishing some slack Metropolis defending.

Man Metropolis had an awesome alternative to retake the lead, however Pickford’s good penalty save within the second half earned the guests some extent.

In making the save, Pickford grew to become the primary goalkeeper to stop Haaland from scoring a penalty within the Premier League. The Norwegian had beforehand netted 15 of 16 spot-kicks taken within the competitors, his solely miss coming in opposition to Sheffield United in 2023 with a shot that hit a put up.

The England goalkeeper has now stored out his final two spot-kicks confronted within the Premier League, having additionally denied Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon in October.

Metropolis sit seventh on 28 factors, whereas Everton are as much as fifteenth, growing the hole between themselves and the underside three to 5 factors.

How the match unfolded

Josko Gvardiol struck the put up contained in the opening three minutes from a brief nook routine earlier than dazzling footwork from Savinho compelled Pickford into a wise low cease.

Metropolis’s dominance was rewarded quickly after when Silva was slipped in by Jeremy Doku, with the Portugal worldwide’s sliding shot deflecting off the boot of Branthwaite and squirming previous Pickford.

Silva ought to have netted his aspect’s second however may solely hearth vast with the surface of his foot and that wasted alternative was punished by a superb end from Ndiaye after Abdoulaye Doucoure’s hopeful supply into the field was not handled by Manuel Akanji.

The hosts had the chance to retake the lead eight minutes after the restart when Savinho was felled by Vitalii Mykolenko within the field, however Haaland noticed his spot-kick saved by Pickford, and regardless of nodding in after Gvardiol’s header from the rebound, the striker was offside.

Regardless of a sustained spell of Metropolis stress, Everton nearly produced a sucker punch within the closing phases. Regardless of some promising counter-attacks, the closest they got here was when Orel Mangala’s effort deflected off Akanji and skewed narrowly vast of Stefan Ortega’s far put up.

Stuttering Metropolis get caught in opposition to Toffees

Metropolis had been nonetheless licking their wounds from a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa final day out, however historical past favoured a return to successful methods as they’d gone 13 Premier League matches unbeaten in opposition to Everton on the Etihad Stadium within the Premier League coming into this contest.

Guardiola, nonetheless, must do with out a few of his key gamers, naming a league matchday squad that didn’t characteristic no less than one in all Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ederson or Jack Grealish since 13 Could 2017, a 2-1 win over Leicester Metropolis.

Silva’s early strike eased the strain among the many dwelling supporters, however one other piece of poor defending allowed Ndiaye to strike.

Metropolis began shortly after the break of their seek for the lead, with Haaland’s back-post header selecting out Savinho to pressure save from Pickford, earlier than the visiting goalkeeper showcased his shot-stopping potential from 12 yards in opposition to Metropolis’s out-of-sorts No 9.

The hosts could have been conscious of Everton’s defensive stubbornness they usually appeared more and more unable to breach the Toffees’ stern defensive rearguard because the match progressed, regardless of throwing on Kevin De Bruyne.

They nearly discovered themselves staring one other defeat within the face, with Everton squandering a number of possibilities late on, and big stress stays on the champions earlier than they go to Leicester subsequent.

One other spectacular draw for Everton

Having produced back-to-back 0-0 attracts in opposition to two title hopefuls in Arsenal and Chelsea, Everton as soon as once more showcased their resilience in opposition to one of many high sides within the Premier League, albeit in opposition to an out-of-form Metropolis aspect.

After withstanding an early wave of Metropolis stress, Mangala fired Everton’s first warning shot however was unable to check Ortega, although the German goalkeeper was known as into motion shortly after to pluck Idrissa Gueye’s rasping drive out of the sky.

Regardless that Metropolis had extra of the ball and possibilities, the Toffees all the time displayed confidence once they ventured into the ahead areas, with Ndiaye’s beautiful end a second to recollect for the travelling followers.

Branthwaite was available to make sure Everton stored the match stage when Seamus Coleman gave the ball away to Phil Foden in a harmful space, however for all their defensive brilliance, Mykolenko’s mistimed problem on Savinho threatened to undo Everton’s good work.

Nevertheless, Pickford got here to their rescue, and Everton by no means appeared prone to be breached from then on.

Sean Dyche could rue his aspect’s missed alternatives late on, most notably a 4 on two state of affairs with Armando Broja main the cost, however they had been unable to make it depend.

Nevertheless, he might be inspired by three spectacular outcomes earlier than Everton face Nottingham Forest and AFC Bournemouth in two key matches earlier than the FA Cup third spherical.

Membership stories

Man Metropolis report | Everton report

What the managers mentioned

Pep Guardiola: “After all we’d like outcomes and we didn’t get it. The staff performed actually good once more in all departments and sadly couldn’t do it.

“Generally we had been capable of win each three days and each week, each week, each week and what occurred we all the time considered the subsequent one and now when the state of affairs is totally reverse it’s on to the subsequent one.

“We settle for it. It’s life. We didn’t count on it to not win video games many, many occasions. However what do it’s important to do? Proceed.”

Sean Dyche: “I used to be fearful about coming right here in the present day as a result of it should change, sooner or later they are going to harm somebody, however I felt we dealt with it nicely – the underlying feeling that they are going to pull a end result out of the bag sooner or later.

“Nice vitality from the gamers. We saved the penalty and Jordan [Pickford] and the evaluation staff deserve credit score. Jordan made a whole lot of good selections in the present day. I’m happy total with the efficiency and getting some extent.”

Subsequent PL fixtures

Key info

Pickford saved his seventh Premier League penalty with Everton, the joint-most for the membership together with Tim Howard. In Premier League historical past, solely Brad Friedel at Blackburn Rovers (10) and Jussi Jaaskelainen with Bolton Wanderers (9) have recorded extra penalty saves with one membership.

Because the begin of November, Man Metropolis have conceded 26 targets in all competitions. In that point, the one aspect from Europe’s large 5 leagues to concede extra is Germany’s FC Heidenheim (28). Metropolis have shipped 62 targets in 2024, their most in a single calendar 12 months since 2016 (67).

Everton supervisor Dyche is winless in all 16 of his Premier League matches in opposition to Man Metropolis’s Guardiola (D2 L14) – in Premier League historical past, solely Steve Bruce in opposition to Sir Alex Ferguson (P17 W0 D4 L13) has managed extra matches in opposition to one other supervisor with out successful.

Man Metropolis have conceded 9 occasions in 9 Premier League matches wherein they’ve scored first this season, a mean of 1 per recreation. That’s their worst common in a season because the 2005/06 marketing campaign (16 conceded in 13 matches, 1.23).