Manchester City went on top of the
Premier League table on Sunday with a 2-0 win at Everton, where Aleksandar
Kolarov and Samir Nasri scored to extend the Citizens' winning start to the
season.
Raheem Sterling set Kolarov up for
the game's opener after 60 minutes before the battling Toffees were dealt a
killer blow by Nasri in the 88th minute to rule out any chance of clinching a
draw.
Roberto Martinez's men were defiant
in the face of their oppressors and responded well to the opening strike with
their own share of attempts on Joe Hart's goal, but a lack of finishing flair
proved fatal in the end.
As OptaJoe stats
showed, Goodison Park has proved to be a difficult venue for title
contenders City in recent years, as they'd won just three of their 18 visits
prior to Sunday's collision:
Manager Manuel Pellegrini was hoping
summer signing Sterling would be able to finally hit his stride against former
derby rivals, with Sergio Aguero returning to Goodison Park having last scored
here in May 2014.
Sterling's presence was noticeable
for all the wrong reasons, too, not due to making any great on-pitch impact,
but more so down to the chorus of jeers that accompanied him, according to
the Guardian's Sachin Nakrani:
Everton were full of confidence
after beating Southampton 3-0 at St. Mary's last Saturday, and it showed in
their approach, as they went toe-to-toe with City in the opening passages,
matching their guests by and large.
David Silva and Yaya Toure
predictably proved the most poignant string-pullers for Pellegrini's side, but
Martinez had his own set of stars impressing, with Ross Barkley and Romelu
Lukaku among them.
The former came to Goodison Park on
Sunday having scored for Everton in their first two games of the season, and
Barkley was just shy of making it a third after stinging the palms of City No.
1 Joe Hart from long range.
Just minutes later, he and Lukaku
combined to go one step further, as the Belgium international found the back of
the net, but former Manchester City midfielder Dietmar Hamann agreed he was
rightly ruled offside:
It was the travelling outfit who
enjoyed a greater share of the first-half opportunities, but Fernandinho
conceded a free-kick on the stroke of half-time to gift the Toffees a superb
opportunity to go ahead.
Lukaku came within centimetres of
opening the scoring, thundering his left-footed attempt off Hart's crossbar to
ensure the two sides went in scoreless at the break. BBC Sport's Phil McNulty highlighted
Everton's burgeoning threat:
The Citizens returned for the second
period with more intent about their play, and Pellegrini was given reason to
applaud after it came Silva's turn to hit Tim Howard's frame after 47 minutes.
His link-up with Sterling led to a
brilliant effort thudding off the post, and Bleacher Report's Rob Pollard
picked the Spanish technician out as the heartbeat of Manchester City's bid for
success:
The push in tempo paid dividends for
City, too, after Sterling was again involved in the probing, setting up Kolarov
for the game's opener following a well-timed overlapping run from the Serbian.
Kolarov fired past Howard at the
near-post in what could have been pulled up as poor goalkeeping, but writer
Samuel Jay C was correct in asserting City's left flank as a particularly
powerful aspect of their play:
The Toffees wouldn't relent in their bid to earn an equaliser, however, and Steven Naismith came close to setting Barkley up for a quick response before a timely deflection saw the effort drawn
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