Manchester City 0 Everton 2:MANCHESTER CITY were shown last night that the Champions League may be far beyond their horizons. City's first home defeat of the season was a result to unite both halves of Merseyside, although Liverpool will not savour what is coming up on the rails on current form.
Roberto Mancini and David Moyes were sent to the stands after the Italian barged into Everton’s technical area to retrieve the ball in stoppage time.
If it was perceived time-wasting tactics that infuriated the City manager, they will be secondary in the cold light of day to his side’s vulnerability at the back and bluntness in attack.
Everton were found wanting on neither score, placing into doubt their own manager’s assertion that the seven sides above them cannot be caught. And City still have Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur to come.
There was needle to accompany the occasion. The presence of three former Manchester United players plus the former City contract rebel Sylvain Distin in the Everton ranks, and Moyes’ lingering resentment over the Joleon Lescott affair, which had led him to claim City lack the collective spirit that prevails at Goodison Park, helped produce a volatile atmosphere and a contest to match.
A comprehensive defeat at Goodison in January may also have fuelled City’s determination, which bordered on over-zealous in the opening exchanges as Micah Richards escaped unpunished for scything down Steven Pienaar and Carlos Tevez collected a booking for diving, head-first, into Phil Jagielka’s leg as the Everton defender cleared his lines.
And John Heitinga, Everton’s holding midfielder, was booked after several warnings for going through the back of Stephen Ireland. The Irishman’s influence had been growing before the Dutchman’s intervention, the decision to move him further forward in support of Tevez helping City wrestle the early initiative back from Everton, but his eventual departure as a result of the foul signalled the end of the home side’s dominant first-half spell.
The breakthrough had appeared inevitable. Predictably, the team under siege got it.
The referee infuriated the home ranks when he awarded Everton a free-kick on the left of the area. Despite seven sky-blue shirts packing the six-yard box, Mikel Arteta rolled a short pass square to Leighton Baines, whose driven cross was glanced home by Tim Cahill.
City were distracted by their own frustrations. At one stage Shay Given sprinted into Everton’s half to demand a booking for Arteta. The Donegal man was rewarded for his 80-yard dash with a booking of his own.
Victory was made safe in exquisite fashion five minutes from time. Jack Rodwell, on as a substitute for Louis Saha, spun away from Kompany and had the presence of mind once inside the area to pick out Cahill lurking behind. The Australian dummied the pass and Arteta arrived from behind to place a low right-foot shot through Given’s grasp.
MANCHESTER CITY: Given, Richards (Vieira 75), Toure, Kompany, Zabaleta, Adam Johnson (Santa Cruz 57), Ireland (Wright- Phillips 41), De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Tevez. Subs not used: Taylor, Onuoha, Garrido, Sylvinho. Booked: Tevez, Given, De Jong.
EVERTON: Howard, Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Osman, Heitinga, Arteta (Yobo 90), Pienaar, Cahill, Saha (Rodwell 72). Subs not used: Nash, Hibbert, Bilyaletdinov, Gosling, Yakubu. Booked: Heitinga, Pienaar.
Referee: P Walton (Northamptonshire).
