Our 3️⃣ points as Man City need Haaland's help to beat Everton | OneFootball

Erling Haaland was Manchester City’s hero as the Norwegian’s second half double secured a 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Everton.

It was a victory that saw City go top of the Premier League but a lethargic performance has still raised some questions.

Off day

This was, despite the result, a pretty disappointing afternoon for Manchester City and raises a few questions going into the final third of this engrossing season.

City were, to be blunt about it, not very good here and were continuously frustrated by an Everton outfit who didn’t really need to be at their best.

Pep Guardiola made four changes to his starting from the one that beat Brentford on Monday but without the likes of Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne on the pitch, City looked blunt and lacking in creative spark.

Despite enjoying nearly 80% of possession and completing four times the amount of passes as their opponents, City struggled for large parts of this game and needed until the 70th minute to have a shot on target.

Perhaps the standards to which we hold the champions are abnormally high, but even in that context, City were well, well below par this afternoon.

History for Haaland

When City needed a hero though, they found him in the shape of Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian goal machine was, like many of his team mates today, not at his best.

But when the moment came, Haaland was there to finish with aplomb and take the reigning champions back to the top of the Premier League.

His opening goal was the 23-year-old’s first in 77 days to end a mini drought.

Little did he know that it was a goal that made a small bit of history, as it was his 50th goal in 50 Premier League starts – more, in that amount of time, than any player before.

Haaland wasn’t done there though as the second was arguably even better. A powerful run from half time saw the striker barge over Jarrad Branthwaite before sliding the ball past Jordan Pickford.

It’s like he’s never been away.

Positive spin

Unfortunately for Everton, this was a day when some individual class ultimately won the day.

The Toffees were resolute defensively and seemed like they had a point within their grasp going into the final quarter of the match.

But some fine finishing from that man Haaland and a late strike when Sean Dyche’s side were pushing for an equaliser, saw a result slip through their fingers.

Dyche will surely take some positives from this match though, with Jarrad Branthwaite continuing his fine run of performances at centre-back and James Garner flourishing in the middle of the park.

They may still be in the relegation places but things don’t look all bad for the Merseysiders.