Erling Haaland had a penalty saved by Jordan Pickford to ensure Manchester City's struggles continued as they were held to a 1-1 home draw against Everton on Boxing Day.
Pickford made a brilliant penalty save in the second half to earn the visitors a point. The England goalkeeper has now avoided his last two Premier League penalties after also denying Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon in October.
Bernardo Silva, wearing the City armband, fired Pep Guardiola's side ahead in the 14th minute when his sliding cross found Jarrad Branthwaite's boot.
But Everton drew level nine minutes before the break through Iliman Ndiaye's stunning finish, with the Senegal attacking midfielder expertly punishing a late City defense.
The draw moves City up to sixth in the standings, but they may not end up in that position on Thursday with seven games remaining, with Newcastle and Aston Villa – the two teams directly below them – battling it out .
Everton, meanwhile, are in fifteenth place, widening the gap between themselves and the bottom three to five points.
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Guardiola will have seen their Boxing Day match against Everton as a good chance to return to victory, but they were faced with a stern defensive display that had recently stopped Arsenal and Chelsea in their tracks.
City have now won just one of their last nine Premier League matches (D2 L6), having won 16 of their previous 18 matches upfront (D2), while since early November only Heidenheim (28) have conceded more goals than the Citizens (26) in the five best leagues in Europe.
Haaland scored 10 goals in his first five Premier League games this season, but has since managed just three in his last 13. In that time, he underperformed his expected goals (xG) with a league-wide total of 5.2 (3 versus 8.2 xG).
His penalty today marked the first time he has seen a goalkeeper save one of his penalties in the Premier League, while his other 16 were scored (15) or hit the woodwork (one).
Pickford saved his seventh Premier League penalty for Everton, the highest for the club along with Tim Howard. In Premier League history, only Brad Friedel at Blackburn (10) and Jussi Jaaskelainen at Bolton Wanderers (nine) have more penalty saves at one club.
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