MANCHESTER, England (BN24) — Erling Haaland continued his blistering goalscoring form with a second-half brace as Manchester City overcame a spirited Everton side 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, moving top of the Premier League on goal difference.
After a subdued first half in which City struggled to break down a well-drilled Everton defense, Haaland burst into life after the interval to take his tally to 23 goals in just 13 appearances this season for club and country. The 25-year-old had netted a hat-trick for Norway during the international break and carried that momentum into Saturday’s fixture, once again proving the difference for Pep Guardiola’s side.
The breakthrough came in the 64th minute when substitute Nico O’Reilly whipped in a teasing cross from the right. Haaland, who had been tightly marked for most of the game, rose powerfully to head past Jordan Pickford with his first clear chance of the match.
Just five minutes later, City doubled its lead. A sharp move down the left saw Savinho cut inside and fire a low ball across the goal. The delivery took a slight deflection off Everton defender James Tarkowski, and Haaland was on hand to sweep it in at the near post.
City had been second-best for much of the opening 45 minutes. David Moyes’ Everton came into the match on a high after their dramatic win over Crystal Palace and caused problems early on, particularly through the lively Iliman Ndiaye. The Senegalese forward twice came close to opening the scoring, first intercepting a loose pass from Nathan Ake and nearly setting up Beto, before drawing a stunning fingertip save from Gianluigi Donnarumma with a long-range strike.
Everton’s Jake O’Brien narrowly avoided scoring an own goal, sending a misdirected header against his own crossbar under pressure from Savinho. On the other end, City created a few half-chances. Savinho shot straight at Pickford from close range, and later forced another save — but lacked their usual attacking sharpness until the second half.
Despite the result, it was far from a comfortable outing for City, who were fortunate not to be behind before Haaland’s double. However, Guardiola will be encouraged by the response and the growing depth of his squad. Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki, and Mateo Kovacic all made second-half appearances after returning from injury layoffs, boosting City’s options ahead of a busy fixture schedule.
Haaland nearly completed his third hat-trick of the season late on, twice breaking through on goal but seeing his efforts denied by an alert Pickford. Full-backs O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes also had late efforts that flashed wide, but by then the damage had been done.
The victory extends City’s unbeaten run in all competitions to eight matches and places them at the summit of the Premier League table ahead of Arsenal’s evening fixture against Fulham.
For Moyes, the defeat continues a grim record he has now failed to beat a side that finished in the Premier League’s top three the previous season in 37 attempts. Everton’s winless run against Manchester City also stretches to 17 league matches, a streak dating back to a 4-0 victory in Guardiola’s debut campaign in 2016-17.
City will now shift its focus to Europe, with a Champions League group-stage clash away to Villarreal on Tuesday. At the same time, Everton returns to league action next weekend when it hosts Tottenham at Goodison Park.
