Everton hammer Manchester City to put dent in title hopes
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ByEurosport
Updated 15/01/2017 at 16:02 GMT
Premier League, Goodison Park - Everton 4 (Lukaku 34' Mirallas 47' Davies 79' Lookman 90+4') Manchester City 0
Everton's Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku (C) celebrates after scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Everton and Manchester City at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north-west England on January 15, 2017.
Image credit: AFP
Everton hammered Manchester City 4-0 to put a huge dent in Pep Guardiola's title hopes.
Raheem Sterling had a penalty appeal turned down early on when he tumbled between Leighton Baines and Joel Robles, but it was Everton who took the lead.
Gael Clichy's error in midfield allowed Everton to slice through the City backline, giving Lukaku the chance to side-foot past Bravo. Two minutes after half-time, Kevin Mirallas made it two after some sloppy defending from City, and youngster Tom Davies dinked an excellent third that he was at the heart of creating.
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Ademola Lookman celebrates scoring their fourth goal
Image credit: Reuters
New signings Morgan Schneiderlin and Ademola Lookman started on the bench for the home side, the Frenchman making his debut just after the hour mark and the 19-year-old coming on to grab the fourth goal despite being on the pitch for little more than added time.
The result means City remain 10 points behind league leaders Chelsea, while Everton stay in seventh behind Manchester United.
TALKING POINT
How has Pep Guardiola produced such a mediocre side? It's clearly too early to draw any conclusions about Guardiola's time at City, but he is nonetheless deserving of severe criticism. He has taken a side that was mediocre under Manuel Pellegrini, and made it worse.
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Pep Guardiola looks dejected
Image credit: Reuters
John Stones is a misfiring synapse, David Silva is still underperforming in most matches, and the defence is pitiful. We can expect real improvement over the next 12 months, but such poor performances are inexcusable.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Tom Davies (Everton): The England Under-19 captain appeared a little out of his depth at the start of the match, and was lucky not to get booked at the start. However, as Everton showed that Manchester City had nothing of merit to offer, he started to gain in confidence. His goal was a superb effort, and Everton might have another youngster to pin their hopes on.
PLAYER RATINGS
Everton: Joel 6, Baines 6, Williams 6, Funes Mori 6, Holgate 6, Coleman 6, Barry 6, Davies 8, Mirallas 7, Barkley 7, Lukaku 7. Subs: Schneiderlin 6, McCarthy 7, Lookman 8.
Manchester City: Bravo 5, Sagna 5, Stones 4, Otamendi 5, Clichy 5, Yaya Toure 4, Zabaleta 6, De Bruyne 7, Sterling 5, Silva 4, Aguero 5. Subs: Iheanacho 6.
KEY EVENTS
12' - PENALTY APPEAL - Sterling is played through on goal by De Bruyne. He could hit it first time, but takes a touch to try to get between Robles and Baines, and takes a tumble. There's no penalty, but it probably should have been.
27' - ROBLES SAVE - Silva is found at the back post, free, by De Bruyne, but Robles rushes out to block, and Silva can't engineer another shot when he wins it back.
34' - GOAL! Everton 1-0 Manchester City. Lukaku scores - Davies slips in Mirallas behind the defence on the inside right, he takes one touch to find Lukaku beside the penalty spot, and he passes in a shot, close to a wrong-footed Bravo.
47' - GOAL! Everton 2-0 Manchester City. Mirallas scores - Manchester City's defence is absolutely terrible. Lukaku's pass is cut out by Stones, but that takes him out of position when Lukaku takes it back up, slips in Mirallas, and the winger has room to strike across the 'keeper.
72' - AGUERO SHOT - Aguero drills a low shot at the far corner from distance, but Robles beats it away at full strength.
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Everton's English midfielder Tom Davies (R) celebrates with Everton's English midfielder Ross Barkley after scoring their third goal during the English Premier League football match between Everton and Manchester City at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north-
Image credit: AFP
79' - GOAL! Everton 3-0 Manchester City. Davies scores - He picks up the ball from deep. Driving towards goal, he uses a Ronaldo-style flick inside to find room, and passes to Barkley. Barkley releases the ball back to him swiftly, and he dinks the ball over Bravo.
90+4' - GOAL! Everton 4-0 Manchester City. Lookman scores - All that arguing from Guardiola has paid off. Lookman has his goal. Stones gives away the ball near his goal, kicking it at Coleman. It bounces straight to Lookman and he finishes at the near post. Robles comes up to celebrate. The whole team are in the corner.
KEY STATS
Everton scored from their first four shots on target.
MATCH IN A TWEET
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