Everton made life for Manchester City hard as they visited the Etihad Stadium, taking home a share of the spoils after an impressive defensive display.
The Toffees soaked up much of City’s pressure, although had a scare in the first half when Phil Jagielka conceded a penalty. Kevin De Bruyne stepped up but his effort was saved by Maarten Stekelenburg.
City continued to press but it was the Merseysiders who took the lead through Romelu Lukaku, finding himself free on the left wing leaving several defenders behind him and slotting accurately past Claudio Bravo.
Everton looked to solidify their dominant position by staying solid at the back but it was Jagielka again who conceded yet another penalty. Sergio Aguero stepped up and his effort was saved by the outstanding Stekelenburg.
It wasn’t long until the Citizens broke through, Nolito netting a header through poor marking in the box.
Kevin De Bruyne had an effort late on but once again Stekelenburg matched it and tipped the shot onto the post.
Anyway, enough of that, here are our player ratings!
Maarten Stekelenburg - 10
Not often you give a goalkeeper who conceded a perfect ten, but I don’t think anyone will disagree.
Two pen saves and countless other stops, Stek was almost the entire reason we took home a point.
Seamus Coleman - 7
Good from the Irishman, wasn’t able to attack as much as he would have liked but coped well at the back.
Phil Jagielka - 4
Day to forget by the captain.
Conceded two penalties and arguably at fault for Nolito’s header, will be wanting to put that behind him ASAP.
Ashley Williams - 9
What a day from the Welshman.
Marshalled the defence well and you wouldn’t have been scoffed at for thinking he had the armband today.
Hopefully much more to come from him.
Bryan Oviedo - 5
Be honest, you shook your head when you seen his name on the team sheet, didn’t you?
It was always going to be a hard day for the Costa Rican and to be fair to him he had some bright sparks.
Unfortunately, he had some bad ones too, so less spoken of it the better.
Idrissa 'Gana' Gueye - 7
Another brilliant performance from the midfielder today, breaking up the play and if anything just offered defensive cover throughout.
Gareth Barry - 7
Similarly to Gueye didn’t have the chance to play the game he wanted to. Resorted to playing almost as another centre-half and dealt with the pressure well.
Tom Cleverley - 5
Says it all that the only picture we could find of him was this one, of Romelu celebrating.
It honestly took us 60 minutes to click on that the Englishman had started.
He really doesn’t offer much, with Ross Barkley sitting on the bench he was lucky to stay on the pitch for so long.
Yannick Bolaise - 5
Just didn’t fall for Bolasie today, very poor when in possession and gave the ball away far too often.
Need much more if he is to live up to that £25million price tag.
Gerard Deulofeu - 6
Unlucky to be pulled off to be honest, but similarly to Bolasie it didn’t exactly fall for him.
Looked more threatening than Yannick, though likely Kevin Mirallas will feature next week.
Romelu Lukaku - 8
What a finish that was! Had it all to do and he put it past Bravo.
Held the ball up well but he was always going to be isolated with City’s attacking threat.
Did very well with the service he had so he can be very proud of himself tonight.
Substitutes
Kevin Mirallas (6) – Didn’t have much time to impose himself on the game but kept the ball decently when Everton needed it the most.
Ramiro Funes Mori (N/A) – Not enough time to earn a score.
James McCarthy (6) – Came up to shore up the midfield and did decently defensively, not sure it will be enough to earn himself a spot in the team next week.