Manchester City drew 1-1Everton, Chelsea beaten by Fulham 1_2 also Manchester United lose game by beaten by Wolves 0_2 with in the 17th round of the English Premier League at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
Manchester City went into this match not performing well, having only won one of their last twelve matches in all competitions, and the pressure on coach Pep Guardiola continues to mount.
This match, which coincided with December 26, was dedicated to opening gifts given on Christmas Day in England, which was attended by Englishman Simon Hooper, and started at 8:30 p.m. Rwandan time.
Pep Guardiola had initially fielded Ortega; Walker, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; De Bruyne, Kovacic; Savinho, Foden, Doku and Haaland while Everton manager Sean Dyche had opted to use Pickford; Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Harrison, Gueye, Mangala, Doucoure, Ndiaye; and striker Calvert-Lewin.
The match started with Man City coming out on top as usual and even taking advantage of it very early on because in the fourteenth minute of the first half, a ball passed by Belgian Jérémy Baffour Doku to Portuguese Bernardo Silva Mota Veiga de Carvalho immediately scored the first goal for Man City.
The joy of the Man City fans did not last long because in the 36th minute, Frenchman Iliman Cheikh Baroy Ndiaye, on a ball that was well converted by Malian Abdoulaye Doucour, failed to be blocked by Switzerland goalkeeper Manuel Obafemi Akanji, who found Ndiaye in front of the goalkeeper and touched it with his right foot and the ball went towards the corner of the goal that was defended by Stephen Ortega, Everton immediately got a goal to compensate.
Man City continued to lead the game and in the 53rd minute Everton defender Mylolenko brought down Brazilian Sávio Moreira de Oliveira, commonly known as Savinho, as he was entering the penalty area.
Simon Hooper wasted no time in checking the VAR and awarded a penalty to Man City, which Norwegian Erling Braut Haaland slotted into the hands of English goalkeeper Jordan Lee Pickford.
The final whistle left Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium with a 1-1 draw with Everton in the first leg of their Boxing Day clash.
Man City defender Akanji also made a serious mistake that cost the club when, speaking to Amazon Prime after the match, he said that his team should have won the match.Asked if a draw was a good result at the moment, he said: “I don’t think it’s good, no.
We did a lot of things in the games, missed a lot of chances and conceded a goal that you could have thought was just our negligence as a team but that’s how it is.
“Meanwhile, while other teams are playing, Man City are in seventh place with 28 points in the provisional league table while Everton are in 15th place with 17 points.