Man City 2-1 Everton: Gabriel Jesus at the double for champions

A second-half Gabriel Jesus double gave Manchester City a 2-1 victory over Everton at the Etihad on New Year's Day.

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VAR ruled out Phil Foden's early strike for an offside on Riyad Mahrez in the build-up, before Mahrez himself was denied a spot-kick by VAR after Lucas Digne's tug on his shirt.

Jesus did eventually give City the lead after the break, finding the top corner from 15 yards (51), before the Brazilian finished off a fine team move to double City's advantage (58).

Everton halved the deficit through Richarlison's far-post finish after Claudio Bravo's poor pass out from the back (71), before Jesus was denied a hat-trick by the post.

The result means City move 11 points behind Liverpool, who have two games in hand, and a point behind second-placed Leicester. Everton are 10th, five points off the top six.

How Jesus haunted Everton again

On a day of injuries across the Premier League, Everton's Bernard was the latest victim in the warm-up, which came courtesy of a tackle from team-mate Yerry Mina. But the visitors started well, with Seamus Coleman forcing a fine fingertip stop from Bravo.

For City, who had ended their most successful decade on a down note with three defeats in their last nine league games, an early goal was chalked off by VAR.

Foden looked to have bagged only his second Premier League strike, turning home at the far post from Joao Cancelo's fine low ball, but VAR saw that Mahrez was offside from the initial ball out wide to him in the build-up.

VAR came to the fore again moments later as an offside flag went up against Mahrez as he was played through on goal, although replays showed he was well onside. VAR subsequently looked at a potential tug on Mahrez's shirt from Digne in the box, but nothing was given.

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The scores were level at the break, meaning City have failed to score a first-half goal in six of their last eight home Premier League games, but they got their opener just six minutes after the restart.

Ilkay Gundogan's brilliant pass through the heart of Everton's defence was controlled well by Jesus, and the Brazilian found the top-right corner from 15 yards despite Jordan Pickford getting a touch.

Jesus struck again not long after, his seventh goal in six games against Everton, finding the bottom-left corner with a fierce left-footed effort after Mahrez had fed him inside the box following a fine City move. But it was game on with 20 minutes remaining as Bravo's poor pass out from goal put Cancelo under pressure; Everton robbed the ball back, before Theo Walcott's cross-shot deflected off Benjamin Mendy and into Richarlison's path at the far post to tap home.

Sub Moise Kean had a fine chance to equalise, deciding on a scissor-kick effort in space in the box when a touch may have been a better option, before Jesus was denied a hat-trick at the other end, first by the post and then Pickford's low stop down to his left.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin could have easily seen red late on for an off-the-floor, scissor-motion tackle on Fernandinho, but referee Andre Marriner only gave a yellow.

City held on, and though there was anxiety late on, on balance the game was completely controlled by the champions as they look to at least put some pressure on Liverpool at the top of the table.

What the managers said...

Man City boss Pep Guardiola: "We played top. I am so delighted about the performance. Being far away from first after being champions for two seasons, normally teams in these situations give up and finish seventh or eighth in the table.

"Maybe we are still going to finish seventh or eighth in the table but not because we don't try. We were there and we played so good. It was a good victory for us."

Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti: "The second part of the game when we went down, we showed more spirit, more intensity. We scored a goal, we tried to equalise. That was a good sign. We could do better in the first half."

Opta stats

• Everton have lost seven of their last 10 away games in the Premier League (W2 D1).
• Manchester City have scored 14 of their last 18 home league goals in the second half of those matches (78%).
• Gabriel Jesus has been directly involved in 69 goals in his 75 starts for Manchester City in all competitions, scoring 53 and assisting 16.
• Only Kevin De Bruyne (23) has more assists in all competitions for Manchester City since the start of last season than Riyad Mahrez (22).

What's next?

City now host Port Vale in the FA Cup third round on Saturday at 5.31pm, before going to Manchester United in the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Football at 8pm.

Everton go to Liverpool in the FA Cup third round at 4.01pm on Sunday, before hosting Brighton the following Saturday at 3pm in the Premier League.

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