Wayne Rooney notched his 200th Premier League goal as Everton held Manchester City 1-1 in a game which saw both sides finish 90 minutes with a man less at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
City had Kyle Walker got two yellow cards in a span of two minutes right before the interval and after trailing to Rooney’s 35th-minute strike, were up against it in the second-half.
Pep Guardiola’s men, however, refused to be cowed down and with the introduction of Raheem Sterling in place of the ineffective Gabriel Jesus at the interval, were arguably the stronger of the sides in the second period.
Everton, to their credit, put in a disciplined performance and with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in inspired form, were hard to break down.
Sterling was guilty of a few misses before the jet-heeled winger finally broke the deadlock with a emphatic volley in the 82nd minute. Everton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin was sent off for a second bookable offence with two minutes left, but despite a late surge from the home side, Everton hung on for a valuable point.
Earlier in the tie, both sides traded chances in a game that was high on intensity from the off.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman opted to keep club record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson on the bench, but in the Icelandic midfielders’ absence, young winger Dominic Calvert-Lewin was bright and constantly caused City’s three-man defence problems with his pace.
After David Silva hit the post in the 34th minute, Everton broke at pace and Calvert-Lewin’s pass was steered into the net by Rooney to give the Toffees the lead arguably against the run of play.
Sigurdsson was introduced at the hour-mark but was unable to affect play and it was City substitute Raheem Sterling, who would have a telling impact on the game. David Silva headed Danilo’s cross back across goal and Sterling took a swing with his right-foot, finally getting the ball past Pickford with less than 10 minutes to go.
Monday’s result leaves both sides with four points from their opening fixtures with City travelling to Bournemouth on Saturday while Everton visit defending champions Chelsea on Sunday.
