27 December 2023 , 22:19
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They celebrated in front of their delirious travelling fans as though they had just won a World Cup or something.
Which, of course, they have.
But this victory, this comeback, this battling triumph against a team with ten points to prove, might just have meant more to Manchester City. Because make no mistake, if Pep Guardiola’s side had not recovered from Jack Harrison’s first half goal, their hopes of another Premier League title would have suffered a crucial blow.
Instead, this win - sealed by goals from Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva - might yet give their title defence the impetus it needed.
While City landed at Goodison Park as world champions, European champions, Premier League champions, FA Cup holders and Super Cup winners - pretty much masters of all they have surveyed - their domestic form was not on a par with Everton’s.
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Sean Dyche’s men had taken 12 points from six fixtures since the ten-point punishment while City had managed just seven from the same number of Premier League games.
In Pep’s world, that is a serious slump.
Not that Guardiola is ever likely to panic, or ever likely to change his style. Even by City’s standards, their approach to this challenge was intricate, particularly when Storm Gerrit was trying to have a say in proceedings.
That intricate approach should have brought an early reward but Matheus Nunes made a save too easy for Jordan Pickford, who was then fortunate to divert the follow-up effort from Alvarez.
(Naomi Baker/Getty Images)Despite his poor second half, no-one is as important to Everton’s cause as Pickford is, the England keeper also denying his international team-mate Jack Grealish.
On this occasion, though, he was also helped by some shoddy City finishing and their wastefulness was punished just before the half-hour mark when Rodri’s rick in his own penalty area gave possession to Dwight McNeil and his composed pass gave Jack Harrison a tap-in.
The old ground erupted and the euphoria was almost off the scale when another Harrison effort was spearing its way to the top corner before Ederson acrobatically intervened.
Quite simply, City - having coasted their way through the first quarter of the game - were rattled and were probably relieved to get to half-time only a single goal in arrears.
But there was more bad news for Guardiola before the break, John Stones again succumbing to injury. Already without Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne and Ruben Dias, City are as stretched as they have been for some time.
But even if the quantity might be compromised, the quality remains, especially when you have the likes of Foden still operating. It was the surprise element of his strike that embarrassed Pickford early in the second half but it was typical of Foden’s ingenuity.
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From that moment, a siege of Pickford’s territory was inevitable and Amadou Onana’s desperate block of Nathan Ake’s shot involved a hand, John Brooks eventually gave the penalty and Alvarez beat Pickford, albeit unconvincingly.
To their credit, Everton - and the home fans - rallied to make life uncomfortable for the visitors but Guardiola’s men sealed their victory when Pickford’s late howler gifted Silva a City third.
And that kick-started those celebrations amongst the City faithful and their players. It was not a Club World Cup win … but it was a key moment in their Premier League season.