Everton maintained their unbeaten run to four games after earning a 1-1 draw against Manchester City in the Premier League on Boxing Day at the Etihad Stadium.
The Toffees, who picked up points against Arsenal and Chelsea in their previous two games, came with a positive game plan against City and Sean Dyche will feel that they could have picked up more than a point had they been clinical upfront.
Bernardo Silva scored in the 14th minute to give City the lead. Everton restored parity in the 36th minute through Iliman Ndiaye.
It was a marvellous strike from the Toffees winger, who took a touch from Abdoulaye Doucoure’s cross and sent a delightful finish with the outside of his boot into the far corner. He really showed his class.
Matthew Upson described the goal as a “special” finish on Amazon Prime, while Paul Robinson said that Ndiaye could get into the current Man City side.
Robinson said, as quoted by BBC Sport: “Everton have a player in Iliman Ndiaye who would get in the Manchester City team, he is that good. Today, he would get in over Savinho and Jeremy Doku.”
Massive point for Everton
It is now one win in 13 games for the Premier League champions, and they were jeered off at the final whistle.
In the second half, City applied pressure to take the lead upfront and they got a huge opportunity when Vitaly Mykolenko made a poor tackle on Savinho inside the box to concede a penalty.
Jordan Pickford dived in the right direction and denied Erling Haaland from the spot. After that, Everton dealt with City’s threats quite comfortably.
Towards the end, Jack Harrison got himself into a very good shooting position, but he couldn’t make the best use of it.
Similarly, Idriss Gueye failed to pick the right pass to his teammates inside the box, with four Everton players ready to pounce. Had they converted those half-chances, the scoreline could have been different.
Ndiaye has proved to be a great signing for the Toffees, but he needs help from his teammates. Dyche will be delighted to have avoided defeats against three big teams, and he will hope that the new owners can help him with funds in the January window to buy some good players.