Ahead of Manchester City’s victory over Leeds United eight days ago,. Ilkay Gundogan had a great season but not prolific in front of goal.
Since then and in just two Premier League games, the German has doubled his goalscoring tally from four to eight and as a result City have come within six points of another league title.
He’s one of the real beauties of Pep Guardiola’s latest City incarnation. This version isn’t always as fabulously compelling to watch as some that have passed before on Guardiola’s watch.
But they remain just as dependable and ruthless and, most importantly, can shoot targets and take inspiration from almost anyone when the moment calls for it.
At Goodison Park today they beat Everton without breaking a sweat. Everton were competitive for 35 minutes, then Mason Holgate missed a chance at one end, City scored twice within a minute and the game was over.
Manchester City controlled the proceedings as they stormed a three-nil lead over Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday
Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring with a brilliantly creative strike from inside the Everton box which was initially controlled with his thigh
Gundogan’s first goal – a shot over his shoulder with his right foot – was reminiscent of the sort of thing the great Dennis Bergkamp did. Erling Haaland’s header a minute later was a genuine strike from the centre-forward and, remarkably, only his third touch in the game at that point.
As for Gundogan’s free-kick five minutes into the second half, it was a moment of football and art. It seemed to take an age to reach the goal, but there was always a sense of inevitability from the moment he pulled his foot back to strike.
For Everton, the damage hasn’t increased and it can still be significant. They are in the bottom three by just one point, but their goal difference is also two better than Leeds, the team below them. So the fact that there hasn’t been a meltdown in the last 40 minutes might serve them well in the long run.
Gundogan’s tally of goals in the league, however, would make him the top scorer for Sean Dyche’s Everton side. Dwight McNeill is Everton’s top scorer in the league with seven goals and that’s saying a lot.
Here their top striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin was reasonably dangerous in the first half but failed to reappear in the second, presumably injured. Dyche, we sense, has already had enough of this particular problem, but his team’s approach to the game was hard to fault.
Compact in midfield when City had the ball – which they often did – they ran and pressed and shut down opponents. For a while it worked in that City hadn’t created a chance at all until they scored eight minutes before half-time. But that’s the point. They scored.
And then, about a minute later, they scored again. Suddenly Everton were looking not at the possibility of a point but at respectability and damage limitation. When people talk about how difficult it is to play against Guardiola’s team, that’s what they mean.
Everton had their own chance just before Gundogan’s goal and they didn’t take it. It was cause for regret as they were well into the game at that time. A goal would have upped the dial in terms of both home support and Everton’s effort on the pitch. It’s always easier to summon energy when you have something tangible to hold on to.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland jumped high into the Everton box to double his side’s lead with his 36th goal of the season
Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (green) was involved in Haaland’s effort but couldn’t hold him off
Pep Guardiola (middle) knocked out both of his goalscorers in the latter stages of the Premier League encounter
As things stand, Holgate was only able to fly the ball over the bar from five yards out after James Tarkowski headed him a corner in the 35th minute. Less than two minutes later, City were leading.
Until now, champions weren’t business as usual. Guardiola had rested four players – John Stones, Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva – ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg with Real Madrid and lacked a bit of momentum and fluidity.
Up front, Haaland was embroiled in a battle for physical supremacy with Yerry Mina and didn’t always win. Indeed in the first 35 minutes, the Norwegian only touched the ball twice and not at all in Everton’s half.
Still, City came out of nowhere to take the lead. Riyad Mahrez’s cross on the right was decent but left Gundogan with his back to goal with plenty to do. It took a split second and two touches to turn the possibility into reality.
Everton manager Sean Dyche (left) put on a frustrated figure at times as his Everton side started brightly but quickly faded against City
James Tarkowski’s (far right) header was knocked off the bar by Man City’s Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson (left)
The ball was first cushioned on the German’s thigh, then it was hooked towards the goal and over his right shoulder with his right foot. In the Everton goal, Jordan Pickford arguably didn’t even see the ball until it was almost past him. It was even the unsuccessful dive.
Guardiola (right) celebrated with Haaland (left) full time
It was almost possible to feel the air being sucked out of Goodison Park at the time. When City score first, they can be devilishly difficult to control and Everton hadn’t even had time to think about how they could do that when they were down to two.
This time the danger came from the other side. Gundogan reached the goal line on the left, hooked his foot around the ball and delivered it to the far post where Haaland rose to head powerfully through Pickford’s attempt from a right-handed save from around seven meters.
On the touchline, Dyche put a finger on each of the temples as if to encourage his players to concentrate. You could say it was a bit too late for that.
Luckily for the home team, there was to be no more damage suffered before half-time. It took a superb clearance from almost on his own goal line from Mina to ensure that was the case, but bad news was yet to follow when Calvert-Lewin failed to appear for the second half.
At this stage of the season, managers need reliability. Dyche will regret the absence of that tonight as Guardiola’s season goes hot on the backs of a group of players he knows he can count on.
Gundogan (right) scored his second goal of the match with a perfectly placed free-kick from the edge of the box
It was a difficult afternoon for Everton goalkeeper Pickford who was beaten by three brilliant goals from the City stars
Gundogan again replaced his manager five minutes before the second half. Phil Foden was knocked down by James Garner as he progressed towards the penalty area on the bottom left. Garner was booked for the trip but the real punishment came as Gundogan curled the resulting free kick over the wall and into the corner with his right foot.
It’s hard not to feel Everton at this stage and even, more broadly, Arsenal who, playing later in the day, were counting on City’s mistakes to invite them back in a title race.
Headers from successive corners caused City mild alarm in the 66th minute. City keeper Ederson returned substitute Aamadou Onana’s first before Mina headed the next delivery up and up over the crossbar.
Everton hadn’t stopped competing and it was at least an improvement on their last home game when they crumbled to a 4-1 loss to Newcastle. Indeed they were roared from the pitch by their full-time supporters. There may still be life in them.
