Haaland missed a penalty as Man City are held by Everton

Erling Haaland saved a Jordan Pickford penalty to ensure Manchester City’s woes continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Everton on Boxing Day.

Bernardo Silva, wearing the City armband, gave Pep Guardiola’s side the lead in the 14th minute when his shot deflected off Jarrad Branthwaite’s foot.

But Everton equalized nine minutes before half-time through a stunning finish from Iliman Ndiaye, with the Senegalese attacking midfielder expertly punishing some weak City defenders.

Man City had a great opportunity to retake the lead, but Pickford’s brilliant penalty save in the second half earned the visitors a point.

With his save, Pickford became the first goalkeeper to stop Haaland from taking a penalty in the Premier League. The Norwegian had previously scored 15 of 16 penalties scored in the competition, his only miss coming against Sheffield United in 2023 when he hit a post.

The England goalkeeper has now saved his last two penalties in the Premier League, having also failed to beat Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon in October.

The draw means City move up to sixth in the standings, but may not finish in that spot on Thursday as there are still seven more games to play, including Newcastle and Aston Villa – the two teams directly below them – who compete against each other.

Everton are now in 15th place, increasing the gap between themselves and the bottom three to five points.

How the game developed

Three minutes from a short corner, Josko Gvardiol hit the post in the early stages before Savinho’s impressive footwork forced Pickford into a clever low stop.

City’s dominance was rewarded shortly afterwards when Silva was brought in by Jeremy Doku and the Portugal international’s shot deflected off Branthwaite’s boot and flew past Pickford.

Silva should have scored his side’s second but could only shoot wide with the outside of his foot and that missed chance was punished with a fine finish from Ndiaye after Abdoulaye Doucoure’s hopeful shot into the box was disallowed by Manuel Akanji .

Eight minutes after the restart the hosts had an opportunity to regain the lead when Savinho was brought down in the penalty area by Vitalii Mykolenko, but Haaland saw Pickford save his penalty and although he nodded off the rebound after Gvardiol’s header was the striker successfully away.

Despite City’s continued pressure, Everton almost scored a goal in the final stages. Despite some promising counterattacks, they came closest when Orel Mangala’s shot deflected off Akanji and went narrowly past Stefan Ortega’s far post.

Stuttering City gets stuck against Toffees

City were still licking the wounds from their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa in their last game, but history favored a return to winning ways as they had been in the Premier League for 13 Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium prior to this competition had remained unbeaten against Everton.

However, Guardiola had to do without some of his key players and name a league matchday squad that does not contain at least one of Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ederson or Jack Grealish since May 13, 2017, a 2-1 win against Leicester city ​​was represented.

Silva’s early goal eased the tension among the home fans, but further poor defending allowed Ndiaye to strike.

City quickly began their search for the lead after the break, with Haaland’s header at the back post picking out Savinho to force a good save from Pickford before the visiting goalkeeper showed his ability to stop shots from 12 yards against City’s underdogs No. 9.

The hosts were aware of Everton’s defensive tenacity and looked increasingly unable to break through the Toffees’ tight defense as the game wore on, despite fielding Kevin De Bruyne.

They came close to another defeat as Everton missed several chances in the closing stages and the champions remain under enormous pressure ahead of their next visit to Leicester.

Another impressive draw for Everton

After suffering back-to-back 0-0 draws against title contenders Arsenal and Chelsea, Everton once again demonstrated their resilience against one of the Premier League’s top sides, albeit an out-of-form City side was.

After withstanding an early wave of pressure from City, Mangala fired Everton’s first warning shot but was unable to test Ortega, although the German goalkeeper came on shortly afterwards to knock down Idrissa Gueye’s thumping shot.

Although City had more possession and chances, the Toffees always showed confidence when venturing into the forward areas, with Ndiaye’s stunning finish a memorable moment for the traveling fans.

Branthwaite was there to keep Everton level when Seamus Coleman gave the ball away to Phil Foden in a dangerous area, but for all their defensive brilliance, Mykolenko’s false tackle on Savinho threatened to undo Everton’s good work.

However, Pickford came to their aid and from then on it no longer seemed likely that Everton would be broken through.

Sean Dyche may rue his side’s missed chances late on, particularly the four-on-two situation with Armando Broja at the helm, but they failed to capitalize.

However, he will be encouraged by three impressive results before Everton take on Nottingham Forest and AFC Bournemouth in two key games ahead of the FA Cup third round.

Club reports

Man City report | Everton report

What the managers said

Pep Guardiola: “Of course we need results and we didn’t get them. The team played really well again in all areas and unfortunately didn’t make it.”

“Sometimes we could win every three days and every week, every week, every week, and what happened we were always thinking about the next one, and now when the situation is completely reversed, it’s on to the next one.”

“We accept it. It’s life. We didn’t expect it wouldn’t win many, many games. But what do you have to do? Carry on.”

Sean Dyche: “I was scared coming here today because it’s going to change, at some point they’re going to hurt someone, but I felt like we handled it well – the underlying feeling that at some point they’re going to get a result out of the bag become.”

“Great energy from the players. We saved the penalty and Jordan (Pickford) and the analytics team deserve credit. Jordan made a lot of good decisions today. Overall, I am satisfied with the performance and receiving a point.”

Next PL games

Important facts

Pickford saved his seventh Premier League penalty against Everton, tied with Tim Howard for the most penalties for the club. In Premier League history, only Brad Friedel at Blackburn Rovers (10) and Jussi Jaaskelainen at Bolton Wanderers (nine) have saved more penalties with one club.

Since the start of November, Man City have conceded 26 goals in all competitions. The only club from Europe’s five major leagues to concede more goals during this time is FC Heidenheim (28). City scored 62 goals in 2024, the most in a single calendar year since 2016 (67).

Everton coach Dyche is winless in all 16 of his Premier League games against Man City’s Guardiola (D2 L14) – in Premier League history only Steve Bruce has more games against Sir Alex Ferguson (P17 W0 D4 L13). Manager managed without a win.

Man City have conceded nine goals in nine Premier League games in which they have scored first this season, an average of one per game. This is the worst average in a season since the 2005/06 season (16 goals conceded in 13 games, 1.23).