1. The title race is back again
Chelsea have been a joy to watch this season but many neutrals would concur that Manchester City had to win this game to make the title race more interesting. City did not produce their best football and they can be excused when all factors are considered, but they needed this win and they delivered.
City’s title defence is now looking stronger again as they closed the gap between them and Chelsea from eight to three points in just over a week. Manuel Pellegrini’s men will also draw confidence ahead of their next set of fixtures because they will face teams in the bottom-half of the table between now and the New Year which should keep up the pressure on Chelsea.
2. Sergio Aguero’s injury soured an important win
The Premier League’s 14-goal top scorer suffered a knee injury after just 75 seconds of the match when Aguero appeared to jar his left knee following a tackle by Muhamed Besic moments after he had picked himself up from another challenge by Seamus Coleman.
He is likely to miss City’s crunch Champions League clash at Roma which is a huge blow for Pellegrini’s side as they need a result against the Italian side to qualify for the knockout stages.
Aguero has scored 44 per cent of City’s goals this season, his hat-trick against Bayern Munich revived City’s qualification hopes and he would have been the biggest threat to a Roma side that rested all their big guns in their 2-2 draw with Sassuolo on Saturday.
3. Martinez’s tactical move did not pay off
Martinez pushed Coleman into midfield for this game where the right-back had to keep the width when Everton attacked to provide crosses for Romelu Lukaku and Samuel Eto’o. That surprise move was not effective though as the Toffees barely threatened from the right flank.
Coleman still gave Everton solidity when defending but the full-back lacked the element of surprise to cause Gael Clichy problems.
4. Joe Hart showed again that he is the man for that long-term contract
There have been a lot of suggestions that Pellegrini does not trust Hart enough as a first-choice keeper and the summer signing of Willy Caballero seemed to support that hypothesis. Hart, however, keeps showing that he has the invaluable ability to keep his concentration when City dominate.
His incredible save to deny Lukaku’s volley in the 82nd minute was even better than it looked because most average goalkeepers cannot just spring to action and pull off a world class save after going for almost the entire game without being involved.
5. The new Messi still needs to bulk up
The 18-year-old Jose Pozo was likened to Barcelona’s Lionel Messi during his time at Real Madrid because of his undeniable talent. Aguero’s injury gave the Spaniard a chance to feature for City as Edin Dzeko was not fit enough to play the whole game after just returning from injury.
Pozo showed his centre-forward instincts by sharply attacking James Milner’s cross, which pulled a top class reflex save from Tim Howard. The teenage striker though lacked the physical presence to cause Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin problems and City’s midfielders could not effectively involve him a lot. He promises to be steal for City when he gains more muscle.
