- Lukaku opened scoring
- Mirallas made it 2-0 straight out of half
- 18-year-old hits Everton’s third
After Everton’s second goal, Pep Guardiola was shown with a gloomy expression, staring straight into the ground without even watching as the game continued on. It was a fitting expression as Everton’s cutting edge on the counter-attack downed a leaky Manchester City 4-0 at Goodison Park.
On a day of Manchester vs. Liverpool, the latter struck the first blow, leaving Manchester City a whopping 10 points adrift of the league’s top spot as Everton’s counter-attack was ruthless, a stark contrast to the toothless visitors. The Toffees picked up four shots on target on the day, and Claudio Bravo came up empty-handed on all four.
Everton looked early on for the long ball to Romelu Lukaku, while City maintained possession with little result. On the break, Everton had the ball in the net through Kevin Mirallas, but it was ruled out as Seamus Coleman was offside. Following a cagey first 10 minutes, the game sprung open.
[ MORE: Watch full PL match replays ]
City had its own early chance, also on the break, as Kevin de Bruyne sprung down the left and fed Raheem Sterling one-on-one with Leighton Baines in the box. Joel Robles came out of the net and smothered the ball, taking down Sterling as well with no call from referee Mark Clattenburg. They had another on 25 minutes as de Bruyne again from the left sent a spectacular ball to the far post where David Silva was waiting all alone, but Robles was again there to smother it before Silva could get a good shot off.
Everton had fewer chances, but took the one big one it had. After Gael Clichy gave the ball away in midfield, 18-year-old Tom Davies threaded a perfect through-ball to Mirallas, and his square pass across the box to Lukaku allowed the Belgian to simply touch home.
[ MORE: Latest Premier League standings ]
After going down, City continued to pummel the Everton goal. Sterling unleashed a vicious one from outside the box that went just wide on 38 minutes. Manchester City finished with a massive 71% possession, but nothing to show for it.
Out of halftime, Everton stunned the visitors straight away. Yaya Toure gave the ball away this time, and Ross Barkley fed Mirallas who hit into the far corner just past a sliding John Stones, just 62 seconds into the second half, leaving Pep Guardiola staring straight into the ground.
[ VIDEO: Premier League highlights ]
Changes were rung past the hour mark, as Guardiola replaced Pablo Zabaleta with striker Kelechi Iheanacho, while Ronald Koeman brought on Morgan Schneiderlin for his Everton debut, but it was another first that put an exclamation mark on the game as the 18-year-old Davies picked up his first Premier League goal with a smart finish dinked over a charging Claudio Bravo.
They’d get a fourth in laughable fashion, through 19-year-old Ademola Lookman on his Premier League debut. John Stones, in an attempt to clear the ball, fired it against Seamus Coleman. The ball caromed back into the box straight into the path of Lookman, who hit through the legs of Claudio Bravo and into the back of the net.
[ MORE: Full lineups, stats, box score ]
The Everton win brings them up to 33 points, although the gap between their 7th place and Manchester United in 6th is still a large six points with the Red Devils still yet to play. Manchester City, meanwhile, drops a full 10 points behind leaders Chelsea, while they remain outside the top four, two back of both Liverpool and Arsenal.