Five Things Learned: Manchester City 2-0 Everton (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City returned from the latest international break with a solid win at home against Everton to maintain their unbeaten run since the end of August.

City have not lost to Everton since February 2017 – a 4-0 defeat in Pep Guardiola’s first season in England – and since then, the Blues have won 15 and drawn three against the Merseyside club.

The first half was disappointing in terms of football as the hosts looked far beyond their full potential throughout the first 45, failing to find Erling Haaland and both wingers missing chances each. Everton had two clear shots themselves to open the scoring via Beto, who finished poorly, and a good Illiman Ndiaye effort saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

In the second half, however, Erling Haaland scored two in two opportunities – a 100 per cent conversion rate until missing three golden chances in quick succession in added time. As for Donnarumma at the other end, the Italian did not have to worry after switching goals, as the visitors did not hit the target at all in the second period.

With this outcome, Manchester City sat second in the Premier League table with 16 points at the end of play on Saturday. Up next for the Blues is a trip away to Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League, before returning to Premier League duties away to Aston Villa.

Here are Five Things We Learned from Manchester City’s win against Everton!

“Phil Foden is like a good wine”

As Pep Guardiola reacted after the match, Phil Foden seems to be improving each and every day. Although he is not at his peak – so far lived in the 2023/24 season – Foden is smarter, understands the game much better, and knows when to do everything right at present.

With two so-called ‘pre-assists’, our golden boy found Nico O’Reilly magnificently for the first goal and acted quickly to pass the ball to Savinho for the second. His awareness is in constant rise and he might be the rightful successor to Kevin De Bruyne’s role.

Besides, his dribbling in small spaces was wonderful against Everton, and it seemed impossible to take the ball off him, completing the joint-most dribbles in the match (3), becoming the joint-best creator with three chances created to his name.

Forget Mini-Rodri, he is Wonder-Nico

Nico definitely shows why Pep Guardiola called him Mini-Rodri after a 4-0 win against Newcastle last season, with his trajectory resembling the No.16, who was signed as a long-term replacement for Fernandinho back in 2019.

However, it is time we give Gonzalez his flowers: Nico improves with each and every match, and he bossed midfield on Saturday. Strong, agile, clever – the full package. His turns and awareness are elite, a difference Manchester City had in breaking the visitors’ press.

If he keeps developing like this, he will become a world class central defensive midfielder, which would obviously be good for him, Pep Guardiola, Manchester City and Rodri himself, who would be pushed to return even sharper.

Erling Haalandependancy

Yes, he is the best goalscorer in the world. Yes, he has scored in 11 straight matches for club and country. Yes, he guaranteed the triumph over Everton. However, Manchester City simply cannot rely exclusively on Erling Haaland.

The last seven goals scored by the Blues have been bagged by the Norwegian. Besides that, no player apart from him has scored more than two for the club this season. Phil Foden is tied with Burnley’s Maxime Esteve for the second-highest goalscorer in 2025/26.

We need Haaland and he should definitely keep his form, but what we are desperate the most for is more action from others. Once the team improves their finishing, it will be easier for the squad and mainly Haaland, since there won’t be as much pressure on the No.9 to win games himself.

We need to talk about Savinho

Skilled, talented and rapid on his feet, Savinho clearly feels more comfortable on the left wing position – where he had the best campaign of his career at Girona and his brightest moments at Manchester City.

Despite doing well on the ball while on the right, it was only when he moved to the left that he made a real impact. He took advantage of Jeremy Doku’s relatively poor display to finally win Manchester City a duel on the left and grab himself an assist that helped the team win.

He started on the right, had the chance to score twice, but failed. That is an aspect the Brazilian still needs to work on in order to fulfil his potential. Being young and entrusted by Ferran Soriano and Pep Guardiola to sign a long-term deal at the Etihad Stadium, he is a versatile option to have when the match demands individual play.

Cherki madness

Rayan Cherki entered the pitch on the 85th minute mark, returning from injury, and it looked like he was never out for a month. With flair, he makes the difficult things in football look even better than simple: smooth.

Had Erling Haaland bagged, Cherki would have got one of the assists of the season. But this is not concerning, as his quality with the ball indicates that more of those jaw-dropping passes will come. Back-heeled, first timed, long-curved – it looked like he was toying on the pitch.

Signed from Lyon for only €36.5 million, the Frenchman has the potential to be crowned as the bargain of the season. It is also fair to say that he deserves to start on Tuesday night, against Villarreal in the Champions League.