Erling Haaland scored his first goal in 77 days as Manchester City battled their way past Everton 2-0 to go top for the first time since mid-November.
Everton had worked hard to restrict the champions to no shots on target until Haaland broke the deadlock in the 71st minute before being set up by substitute Kevin De Bruyne for the second 14 minutes later.
It took Haaland’s tally this season to a league-leading 16 goals as City claimed their 10th consecutive win in all competitions and a run of six in the league.
City made four changes from the side that beat Brentford on Monday. John Stones and Manuel Akanji replaced Kyle Walker and Josko Gvardiol in defence, while Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes replaced the benched De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva.
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In his 300th Premier League match, Sean Dyche, who had to watch from the stands because of a ban, named an unchanged side from their 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
The visitors nearly caught Man City by surprise. Dwight McNeil slipped through Ben Godfrey, but the defender’s sliding attempt was claimed by Ederson as both players collided.
Thereafter the half was dominated by City, but they struggled to create chances past a deep and resolute Everton defence. They had nine shots in the first half, of which five were blocked, but none was on target, for the first time since January 2023.
It was their most shots without hitting the target in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League match since November 2019 when they had 14 against Southampton.
After 12 minutes of similar football in the second half, Pep Guardiola introduced De Bruyne to break the deadlock.
In the 70th minute, Haaland finally broke the deadlock with City’s first shot on target. Everton failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to the Norwegian who lashed it home for his first goal since 25 November at home to Liverpool.
Haaland doubled the lead in the 85th minute. After being released through on goal by De Bruyne, the forward brushed off Jarrad Branthwaite and slotted the ball past Pickford into the far corner.
It was his fourth goal against Everton in three league matches, while De Bruyne, who provided his first assists to his striker this season, was involved in a City goal for a fourth match in a row since returning from injury.
De Bruyne missed a late chance to make it 3-0 when put through down the right, but his lob over Pickford was narrowly over.
City move on to 52 points, above Liverpool who have the chance to restore their lead at home to Burnley later in the day.
A seventh league match without a win leaves Everton 18th on 19 points, hoping the teams immediately above them also drop points later today.
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