ERLING HAALAND missed the opportunity to lift the gloom over Manchester City.
Match report
The Norwegian forward saw his second-half penalty saved by Jordan Pickford, meaning the fallen champion dropped even more points.
Pep Guardiola's men have now won just one of their last 13 games in all competitions and even their normally lethal striker is falling short.
The Etihad chief had told his players to spend Christmas night after training at the City Football Academy in a bid to stem the decline.
But there was more bad news ahead of kick-off, with England duo Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish ruled out.
Yet it seemed Pep's decision was the wake-up call his players needed after a disastrous few months.
They started confidently with Phil Foden's cross against Josko Gvarradiol's post.
They were ahead within the first 15 minutes when Bernardo Silva latched onto a pass from Jeremy Doku and squeezed his shot over Jordan Pickford – off a deflection off Jarrad Branthwaite.
Everton have kept clean sheets against Arsenal and Chelsea in recent weeks, but even in their current form City found ways to get through.
Silva missed a golden opportunity to make it two when he fired a shot wide after great build-up play from Foden and Haaland.
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And moments later they had to pay when Manuel Akanji managed to clear Aboulaye Doucoure's shot with a bang.
The ball fell to Iliman Ndiaye at the back post and the Senegalese took a shot before sending a rising shot past Stefan Ortega into the corner.
The confidence City regained suddenly disappeared from them and they looked anxious for the remainder of the first half.
After the break they were ahead again, with Mateo Kovacic hitting wide and Savinho also going close.
The Brazilian winger earned his team a penalty when he went down under a challenge from Vitaly Mykolenko shortly afterwards.
It was a clear penalty, but perhaps the subsequent delay confused Haaland as his spot-kick was tame and comfortably saved by Pickford.
Even though the Norwegian headed in the rebound, he was flagged for offside and a golden opportunity was missed.
Haaland and his teammates have had a tough time in recent weeks – scoring just four goals in the last 12 games. A real drought by his standards.
City were nervous again and breathed a sigh of relief when Doucoure's goal ball was deflected past his own post by Rico Lewis.
In the final few minutes, Orel Mangala's shot took a deflection off Akanji and fell just wide of the post. Given the turn of events, it wouldn't have been a surprise if the ball had dropped in.
Competition events
0' The match is about to start!
3' OUT OF THE POST! Josko Gvardiol
9' Doku is eliminated
12' Haaland's shot is blocked by the defender
14' Silva squeezes the ball into the far post!! Manchester City 1-0 Everton
21' Orel Mangala's shot from outside the penalty area almost hits the mark
23' Assisted by Phil Foden with a cross from a corner
26' Great pass from Foden, but Haaland does not take advantage of that opportunity
32' Bernardo's shot from the center of the penalty area almost hits the mark, but too far to the right
36' They have equalized VS MAN CITY! Beautiful finish NDIAYE!! Manchester City 1-1 Everton
48' Haaland header from the right side of the goal area almost hits the mark, but just wide
53' Penalty missed! (Haaland)
55' Pickford makes a funny face towards Haaland for the penalty
65' match event for Man City vs Everton
67' Savinho's shot wide
69' EVERTON almost made it 2-1!
75' DOKU IS LOWERED, DE BRUYNE IS ON!
78' Haaland cannot give teammate enough support
83' EVERTON ALMOST takes the lead!
85' Subs: Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and Ilkay Gundogan replace Ake and Mateo Kovacic
Setups
Man City XI: Stefan Ortega, Kovacic, Ake, Bernardo, Akanji, Haaland, Foden, Jérémy Doku, Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis, Savinho
Subs: Carson, Gundogan, De Bruyne, James McAtee, Divin Mubama, Nico O'Reilly, Max Alleyne, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Spike Brits
Everton XI: Coleman, Gueye, Pickford, Doucoure, Tarkowski, Calvert-Lewin, Mangala, Jack Harrison, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Iliman Ndiaye, Jarrad Branthwaite
Subs: Keane, João Virgínia, Beto, Jesper Lindstrøm, Armando Broja, Nathan Patterson, Jake O'Brien, Chermiti, Harrison Armstrong
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