EPL – What We Learned – Manchester City 0 Everton 0

EPL – What We Learned – Manchester City 0 Everton 0

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Manchester City and Everton have played out a tense goalless draw at the Etihad on Wednesday night.

Despite the empty scoreline, it was a contest that was anything but boring. City were the dominant side and enjoyed the wealth of opportunity, but could not breach the visitors with Tim Howard producing some of his best form.

It was the hosts who were presented with the first chance of the night after eight minutes. Raheem Sterling slipped through Kevin De Bruyne, but pressure from Phil Jagielka forced his effort astray.

Yaya Toure would have the next bite of the Cherry nine minutes later. He leapt highest at a corner and made clean contact, forcing Howard into an excellent save to his right.

The tide of the momentum in the opening stanza changed thereafter, with the visitors wrestling a toehold on proceedings. They would have the best opportunity of the game on the half-hour mark, with Leon Osman coming within inches of netted a screamer. He met Romelu Lukaku’s cross with a stinging volley that just missed the far post.

Everton enjoyed strong patches in the latter stages of the opening half but could not break City down, with the half time whistle appearing to scupper that momentum somewhat.

The second period saw Everton feed of mere scraps as City took the ascendancy. Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling both brought out the best in Howard, forcing the American into action on multiple occasions.

The Argentinian had the best chance, volleying a corner into the ground but straight at Howard. Nevertheless, the gloveman did well considering the ball’s tricky trajectory.

The Toffees’ best opening was presented to Lukaku, though he still had plenty of work to soon receiving the ball; that proved too much as Martin Demichelis excellently smothered the Belgian’s 82nd-minute effort.

The twist that seemed likely could easily have come in the dying embers of the match. John Stones appeared to clip the onrushing Sterling in the 92nd minute but the referee waved away the incident, interestingly, with little appeal from the winger.

The ledger remained as it started. The result does little for City by way of their title aspirations and is Everton’s 10th draw of the campaign.

City huff, puff but don’t blow the house down

The bulk of chances, as most would have expected, fell to the hosts. They had 22 attempts on goal versus Everton’s seven, but could not break down Everton with only five of those shots finding the target.

There Merseysiders’ securing of a point can be largely attributed to goalkeeper Howard who, in wake of much criticism, produced a commanding performance in goal. Saves off Toure’s powerful first half header and Aguero’s stinging 61st-minute volley were his best work.

Everton were generally commanding at the back too, with Ramiro Funes Mori, Phil Jagielka and stand-in right-back Stones all keeping a level head throughout, ensuring City were held goalless at the Etihad for the first time since January 2015.

City could not break through
City could not break through

Besic is boss

The Bosnian is taking the chance that is being presented to him with aplomb. He needed to as well – he is filling the void of a man who is arguably Everton’s lynchpin, James McCarthy.

Alongside Gareth Barry, Mo Besic put in another swashbuckling performance in midfield after a man of the match performance against City at Goodison in the League Cup last week.

He distributed excellently at 91%, but it was his defensive work that came to the fore once more. Never one to back out of a tackle, Besic attempted six of those with his usual vigour, winning four of them.

Kick-off may have been delayed

It was easy to notice the empty seats in the Etihad well into the first half. The reason for that was traffic congestion in and around the stadium, with Evertonians in particular affected, making the journey from Merseyside.

With lofty ticket prices, and at £41 for an away ticket, should kick-off not have been delayed for a period of time to allow those fans to get to the game? That seems a fair and simple way of allowing fans the full value of their tickets.

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