Demarai Gray’s stunner for Everton denies Manchester City victory

Manchester City did precisely what Pep Guardiola warned they should not: drop more points in the bid to overhaul Arsenal in their attempt to retain the title.

The champions could be classed as dominant but just not ruthless enough against an Everton whose possession percentage never rose above 30 but whose feistiness made this a bad-tempered – and productive – affair for them.

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Erling Haaland’s 21st Premier League strike opened proceedings and equalled the best from a City man since 2015-16 when Sergio Agüero registered 24. The hosts, though, never killed off their opponent and so on one of their rare raids Demarai Gray’s sublime long-range goal meant a draw and with Arsenal playing late on Saturday Guardiola’s men may end the weekend trailing by seven points.

In Haaland City began with a marksman with eight more league finishes (20) at kickoff than Everton, who arrived with one win in nine outings. This made the No 9 going down 40 seconds in following a coming together with Ben Godfrey a potential headline event but, after fitting on a lost boot, he continued.

This allowed Kevin De Bruyne to twice aim passes – one aerially, the other along the turf – at the giant striker. From the first Haaland missed his header; from the second a heavy touch produced a closed-off angle for a shot and Jordan Pickford’s side-netting was found.

Guardiola had again ignored Phil Foden so the forward now has only one start in six City matches in the competition as the manager once more chose Rico Lewis and the smooth way the 18-year-old slipped inside from right-back to make an extra midfielder illustrated why.

John Stones was the next City man down when flinging himself bravely at a Bernardo Silva cross: Pickford took ball and defender but after a check of his head the latter continued.

Everton were offering close to nothing, pushed back by the champions’ dominance and, next, they conceded. Haaland’s 21st strike of a phenomenal season came this way: Jack Grealish floated across Everton’s D and rolled the ball to Riyad Mahrez. A classic body-swerve removed Vitaliy Mykolenko and the Algerian tapped to the centre-forward whose hooked, right-foot finish might have been cleared by Conor Coady if Pickford had not pushed the ball away from him and in.

De Bruyne was having an afternoon in which he sought his silkiest form while still being a menace. A medley of misplaced passes caused enough frustration for him to take out Amadou Onana in a half that featured four other bookings – Silva, Haaland, Nathan Patterson and James Tarkowksi – and was bitty and a definite disappointment for Frank Lampard’s men who ended recording zero goal-attempts to their hosts’ five.

City closed their opening period with a Stones header that hit the post and Haaland taking out Mykolenko – causing the Norwegian’s yellow and that of Tarkowski who rushed up for afters.

This seemed to be the visitors’ main gameplan: to try and knock City about and hope to snatch a goal. Given how seasoned Guardiola’s unit is this seemed a touch desperate from Lampard and showed up the manager’s lack of tactical invention, though it would yield the desired dividend.

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Following a delay of around six minutes to fix an assistant referee’s headset, Grealish and Alex Iwobi clashed and the England man could be heard yelping. While no sixth yellow card was waved, it did appear when, later, Onana took out Rodri.

The Spaniard was chief culprit for Everton’s unlikely equaliser, ceding the ball to Idrissa Gueye who passed to Gray. After a run – and slip – down the left he smashed a rocket past Ederson, at around 30 degrees, and suddenly the travelling fans surged delight.

Tempers frayed for an umpteenth time when Tarkowski and Haaland exchanged manbags but Andrew Madley did not administer what would have been a fatal (second) booking for either.

Erling Haaland shows his frustration. Photograph: Tom Flathers/Manchester City FC/Getty Images

As the home crowd raised the volume De Bruyne, Mahrez and Grealish all unloaded in a packed area but to Guardiola’s chagrin Pickford made at least one heroic match-saving stop.

At last Foden, Ilkay Gündogan and Julian Álvarez were thrown on by Guardiola but despite 11 added minutes this seemed a little late. After Rodri missed a golden chance to head the winner, it is now only one point from the last six at home for City.