The times they are a-changin'. Who would have thought in a matter of months; it is now Everton who are favourites against Manchester City. Simply unbelievable. That on the back of a stunning run of form that would have seen Everton in 6th place extrapolated across the season. And City's worst period of form since God knows when.
Looking at the City line-up; it doesn't strike fear now. Gone are the likes of Kyle Walker & Erling Haaland; albeit through injury. And there is no Phil Foden; no Jack Grealish; no John Stones. In their place are unknowns such as the frizzy-haired Nico O-Reilly & the even more unknown Nico Gonzalez. And superstars such as Bernardo Silva are either bang out of form or in Kevin De Bruyne's case; waiting to be retired.
But it seems Everton got a bit complacent in this one; missing were the usual energetic high pressing game employed by David Moyes' men; in fact this seemed to represent a game in which both sides had nothing to play for; which was almost true of course. It was only when Michael Keane came on for the injured James Tarkowski did the match seem to turn; paralleled by the introduction of the dangerous Jeremy Doku for City. Suddenly; the sturdy defending of the home side was replaced by hesitancy & nervousness; exemplified when O'Reilly was first on hand to turn home Matheus Nunes' expected cross.
Things got worse when a slipping Mateo Kovacic somehow found his shot gliding past a despairing Jordan Pickford to make the points safe for City. Somehow though this was not the City that we were accustomed to seeing. And Everton surely could have won it had they took the chance.
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