Manchester City beat 3-1 Everton and found a great replacement for Erling Haaland

Manchester City were on a mission on Wednesday to get a win at Goodison Park against Everton to move closer to the top of the Premier League standings. They had won only one of their last five games in the competition and that, coupled with the postponed match against Brentford last weekend because they were competing in the Club World Cup, left them far behind leaders Liverpool.

But it was not an easy task. The Toffees' position in the league table does not show their true level: they received a harsh sanction from the FA for financial fair-play breaches and therefore suffered a 10-point deduction that left them close to the relegation zone. Otherwise, they would have been very close to qualifying for international tournaments.

During the first half Everton were better and scored the opener taking advantage of mistakes by two of Manchester City's stars: first Bernardo Silva and then Rodri gave the ball to rival players and that ended with an assist from Dwight McNeil to Jack Harrison, who scored the first goal with a soft shot. And that was not all, as John Stones then had to be replaced due to a left foot injury.

However, things changed completely after the break. After 8 minutes of the second half Phil Foden scored the leveller with a good shot from outside the box and 10 minutes later Julian Alvarez completed the comeback with a penalty kick, after an uncontested handball from an Everton defender. And in the last minutes Bernardo Silva redeemed himself for his mistake in the opponent's goal and netted the 3-1.

They didn't need their biggest star

Erling Haaland was unable to play against Everton because of an ankle injury suffered in the defeat against Aston Villa a couple of weeks ago. For that reason he was not at the Club World Cup either and, with this scenario, Manchester City found a suitable replacement: Julian Alvarez scored two goals in the final against Fluminense and on Wednesday he contributed with a goal at Goodison Park.