Our reporter Michael Plant gives his thoughts on Manchester City's 2-0 win over Everton.
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00:00 Manchester City 2 Everton 0 was the final score here today from the Etihad.
00:04 In a game that in truth I don't really think will live too long in the memory.
00:08 City found it really difficult for the first 65-70 minutes here against Everton.
00:12 We defended really well, a 4-4, 1-1 shape. City just couldn't break down and they
00:19 didn't offer enough incision penetration and you're getting into the latter
00:22 stages of the game wondering whether Everton were gonna nick a point. Probably
00:26 one of the best defensive displays I've seen here at the Etihad for quite a long
00:29 time. Pep Guardiola made his changes, brought on Kyle Walker and Kevin
00:32 De Bruyne and it was the latter who had a real impact. Didn't actually provide the
00:36 game-changing moment but his energy and his range of passing I think was
00:40 kind of the catalyst for City to go on and win this match. The first goal came
00:45 from Erling Haaland, a really vicious, venomous shot from I think quite a
00:49 frustrated Haaland who enjoyed a difficult start to the game but when
00:52 the corner came in it pinged around the box and Haaland with his right foot just
00:55 absolutely leathered it past Jordan Pickford. A really good finish from him and then
01:00 about 15 minutes later a through ball from De Bruyne, at this time creating
01:04 the goal, shrugged off Grant Thwaite who I actually thought was perhaps one of the
01:07 best players on the pitch but Haaland shrugged him off and kind of off-balance
01:10 looked up, saw Pickford coming out and just slotted it into the bottom corner.
01:13 Listen, this wasn't vintage from City, it wasn't fantastic but ultimately another
01:17 three points. That's six wins in a row in the Premier League, ten in all
01:20 competitions and as I'm recording this video they are currently sitting top of
01:23 the Premier League table. For how long that will last I'm not sure as I suspect
01:27 Liverpool will beat Burnley in a couple of hours time but for now it's a good
01:32 result for City even if they didn't exert the same level of control and
01:36 dominance and I suppose attacking flair that we've seen in recent weeks but as I
01:41 say an important game, some good performances as well. I actually thought
01:43 defensively City were good for all evidence, kind of huffing and puffing.
01:46 They didn't actually really create many chances and the back four didn't have
01:49 much to deal with. Ederson, did he have one save to make all afternoon? So yeah
01:53 City come through this one again. I think for them they're just getting in
01:57 that rhythm now picking up three points as regularly as they can. Very important
02:00 period of the season of course.