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24

2019 Manchester City Norwich City Off The Foot Of The

27th, Come From Behind To Table After Defeating Everton Away

November

| Defeat Chelsea
EXAMINER Mthemselves within and teed up Willian but the Chelsea as Kepa gifted anoth-
anchester City came
er chance to Agüero in front
Brazilian fired past the far
from behind to keep
of goal but the Argentinian
post.
IRISH nine points of Premier in The visitors enjoyed a spell thumped his shot against the
League leaders Liverpool
the
crossbar.
and
ascendancy
with a hard-fought 2-1 win
Mahrez went close to grab-
Abraham curled a shot over
over Chelsea. from Fikayo Tomori which bing a second after the break
All the goals in an open also missed the target. following another run across
contest at the Etihad Stadium The visitors were rewarded the box but this time he Norwich hauled themselves off the bottom of the
came in the first half as the for their positivity when they clipped his effort wide. Premier League table with their first away win of the season
champions responded to claimed the lead after 21 min- Mahrez was unlucky again to pile the pressure back on Everton manager Marco Silva.
N’Golo Kante’s early strike utes. after Cesar Azpilicueta pro- After a goalless 10 hours and 20 minutes on the road,
with goals from Kevin De Mateo Kovacic picked out duced a fine block to deny Todd Cantwell’s first strike since the Canaries’ last league
Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez. Kante with a well-weighted Fernandinho and the ball success – at home to Manchester City in September – and
Raheem Sterling thought ball over the top and the dropped to him, but this time an added-time effort from Dennis Srbeny, secured a 2-0 vic-
he had added a late third for Frenchman took a touch Kepa touched his powerful tory.
City but his injury-time strike before poking a shot under drive over. It lifted Daniel Farke’s side to within a point of escaping
was ruled out for offside in a the advancing Ederson. Phil Foden looked lively the bottom three and left Everton just four points above the
very tight VAR call. That prompted a strong after he was introduced for relegation zone after a sixth defeat in nine league games.
Sergio Agüero hit the response from the hosts and David Silva – who was suffer- So, while Norwich are looking up, Silva is looking over
woodwork before the break they were level within eight ing from cramp – in the 67th his shoulder as seven of their next nine matches are against
but the game ended with con- minutes as De Bruyne struck minute but his first effort saw tough opponents in second-placed Leicester (twice),
cern for City’s record from the edge of the area, him shoot tamely at Kepa. Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and
goalscorer after he hobbled albeit with a slice of luck. Agüero wanted a penalty Manchester City.
off 13 minutes from time. De Bruyne wrong-footed after tangling with Reece It is the month from hell for Silva but Saturday afternoon
City spurned a number of two defenders with a nice James on the edge of the area was not much fun either as Everton’s lack of ambition
chances to kill off the game in touch but was then fortunate but nothing was given. against a team who had taken one point from their last
the second half but the as his shot took two deflec- Agüero may have been seven matches, cost them dearly.
Londoners could not get back tions to deceive Kepa hurt in that fall as it proved to The international break came at the wrong time for the
into the game and were Arrizabalaga. be his last meaningful involve- Toffees as the lay-off negated any boost from the win at
leapfrogged in the table by the De Bruyne had a repeat ment and he limped off soon Southampton but Silva kept faith with the same team.
hosts, who moved third. opportunity moments later after. But instead of going for the jugular against the Premier
The match was an enter- only to fire over but Mahrez For all City’s control in the League’s bottom side, without a win in two months and
taining one with both sides stepped up to put City ahead second half, they did not kill after collecting just one point and one goal in six away
keen to attack. City had a with a fine individual goal. off the game and they had matches, they were sluggish in their approach.
good early chance when The Algeria international scares when Willian volleyed In fact, the visitors looked more threatening as they were
Agüero played in De Bruyne cut inside from the left over and Mason Mount curled content to get the ball forward quickly with Onel
but the Belgian drove his shot between two defenders and an injury-time free-kick wide. Hernandez posing the only real threat with his driving runs.
across goal. sent a low shot through the There was drama in the Having tested Jordan Pickford from the edge of the
Chelsea also went close legs of Tomori and into the far closing moments as Sterling penalty area early on, he forced the England international
after Tammy Abraham broke corner of the net. struck but VAR denied him by into a good low save after countering from an Everton cor-
clear from a poor Mahrez pass It might have got worse for millimeters. C ner.
But none of his team-mates were close to being on the
Cuban’s wavelength and most of Norwich’s attempts were
deflected shots from distance.
While Hernandez was causing problems for right-back
Djibril Sidibe, only once in the first half did Richarlison get
a run at the Norwich defense and – when he did – Christoph
Zimmermann, on his first appearance since August because
of injury, took a booking to avoid being beaten in a sprint.
The weak half-time booing was followed by greater con-
sternation when Teemu Pukki muscled Mason Holgate off
the ball, but his dithering betrayed his lack of confidence –
having not scored a league goal since September’s surprise
win over Manchester City – and the chance was lost.
Holgate’s failure to deal with Kenny McLean proved
more costly in the 54th minute as Pukki picked up the loose
ball and his pass took Holgate and Yerry Mina out of the
game as the onrushing Cantwell beat Pickford at his near
post.
Everton’s handball shouts against Alexander Tettey were
optimistic but Sam Byram’s free header wide criminally
failed to double the visitors’ lead. C
Riyad Mahrez celebrates after putting Manchester City 2-1 up with a fine individual goal