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Manchester City dropped more points in the draw with Everton on Boxing Day.
Manchester City’s desperate run of form continued with a draw at home to Everton on Boxing Day.
The Toffees battled to a 1-1 draw at the Premier League champions at the Etihad Stadium. The visitors fell behind in the 14th minute when Bernardo Silva bagged for Pep Guardiola’s side, who had lost nine of their previous 12 games heading into the encounter. Everton displayed resolve and got back into the game nine minutes before half-time through a fine Ndiaye finish at the back post.
City boss Pep Guardiola said: “We played really good, but we are in a period right now that this is what happens. But yeah, keep going. Confidence will be with the results, because always is in our minds. But the performance against that team was really good, defensively, offensively. We shoot a lot in the 18-yard box, but unfortunately we could not get the result we wanted.”
Meanwhile, City defender Manuel Akanji told Amazon Prime: “Unfortunately we were only able to score one goal and we conceded one out of basically nothing, but that’s how football is. I think this was a game today where we were able to score three, four goals, but it didn’t want to go in.
“Also, it can’t happen that we almost lose the game in the last minutes. We are trying to attack but then we lose the ball and I think it’s like a six v two situation in front of our goal. Luckily I could block the shot, but things like this can’t happen. We still need to believe until the last moment that we can win the match. But it wasn’t possible.”
Meanwhile, Sean Dyche heaped praise on Iliman Nidaye and Jordan Pickford as Everton earned a share of the spoils. City had the chance to go ahead eight minutes into the second half when Everton defender Vitalii Mykolenko’s late lunge brought down Savinho.
Dyche added: “It is a penalty. The forward does well. But Jordan, very good for his confidence and listening to the coaches but, of course, it comes down to his decisions and fair play to him. I was a long way from it. At the moment, I wasn't sure how much contact there was. It is a penalty. It is a lazy one. He is a really good defender, Myko, and been in really good form in the past few games so I'm not going to question him.”
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