Man City's Second-Half Comeback Secure Victory over Everton: Player Ratings

On Wednesday night, Manchester City won a challenging 3-1 match against Everton and narrowed the gap with their Premier League title competitors.

Despite falling behind early at Goodison Park, due to a goal by Jack Harrison for the Toffees, the Cityzens made a strong comeback. Prior to this match, Everton had not lost a game this season when scoring first under head coach Sean Dyche.

The second half of the match witnessed an exceptional performance by the freshly crowned world champions, helping them seize all three points. Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez, and Bernardo Silva all made it to the scoresheet.

The visitors eliminated any signs of fatigue from the Club World Cup early in the match, keeping possession and overshadowing the usually enthusiastic Goodison Park. The first 20 minutes were ruled by City with a double save from Jordan Pickford preventing them from taking the early lead.

Everton started to catch up via set pieces, which stimulated the home crowd. As the visitors started making more mistakes, Everton's confidence grew and their passes became louder.

A series of errors by Rodri and Silva from City allowed Dwight McNeil to reach the byline and his pass was perfectly met by Harrison, who scored the first goal for Everton. Though City was struggling, Everton seemed to be in a better position to score another point before a half-time injury to John Stones stopped their progress.

Guardiola's side was struggling in the harsh weather at Goodison, but a powerful strike by Foden at the start of the second half leveled the scores. The world champions increased their pressure after the break and left no stone unturned.

A penalty opportunity came to City after two near-own goals by James Tarkowski and the spot-kick was successfully converted by Alvarez. The control of the game by City faded away, and Everton started regaining their confidence. However, a late goal by Silva into an empty net after an error by Jordan Pickford ensured a victory for the visitors.

Spread across the field, Everton's performance varied. Pickford, despite his excellent saves, was attributed little credit for any of City's goals. Patterson faced a tough night against Grealish, but he performed well after getting a booking. The overall performance was average, with some over-performing and some failing to leave a mark.

Despite Everton's loss, Dyche's favouritism for his core team is clear and his team was able to make City work hard for their win.

City goalkeeper Ederson, on the other hand, was nearly perfect in the game, making an excellent save against Harrison.