Erling Haaland’s penalty miss cost struggling Manchester City as the four-time defending Premier League champions dropped more points in a 1-1 draw with Everton on Thursday.
Haaland had the chance to fire City on course for only their second win in 13 games when stepping up for a 53rd minute spot kick at the Etihad Stadium. But his tame effort was saved by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to extend City’s woeful run.
Pep Guardiola’s team lost nine of its last 13 games in all competitions. The draw means City picked up only its fifth point in the league since the end of October.
City are sixth in the standings with 28 points, 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, having played two games more. Everton are 15th, five points above the drop zone.
Liverpool have the chance to extend their lead over the champions when playing Leicester in the later kick off.
City could drop to as low as eighth by the end of the day.
“We played really good but we are in the period right now that is what happens, we create, (then) we concede,” Guardiola said afterward.
“We shoot a lot in the 18-yard box, but unfortunately we could not get the results that we wanted.”
City’s damaging run has seen it slip down the standings in the league and crash out of the English League Cup.
It is also in danger of missing out on the playoffs for the round of 16 in the Champions League – sitting just one point above the cut off point with two games to play.
“The biggest thing for me is the mentality,” said a delighted Everton manager Sean Dyche. “Two losses in 13, I know there’s been a lot of draws, but it’s not easy to do that in the Premier League.”
The Etihad Stadium crowd breathed a sigh of relief when Bernardo Silva scored in the 14th. Jeremy Doku played a ball in behind the Toffees’ defense and Silva slid in to fire into the far corner from a tight angle, the ball deflecting off Jarrad Branthwaite and in.
The goal, which had Guardiola pumping two fists in celebration, ended Everton’s streak of clean sheets at three games.
But City’s celebration was short-lived. Iliman Ndiaye drew Everton level in the 36th when Manuel Akanji failed to clear a cross and the Senegalese midfielder took a touch to settle the ball then unleashed a shot from the center of the box to the top right corner.
City fans thought they had victory locked up when Haaland stepped up to the penalty spot in the second half after Vitaliy Mykolenko’s tackle on Savinho, but Pickford dived correctly to save the shot. The rebound was sent back in and Haaland headed into the back of the net, but it was chalked off for offside.
Haaland’s missed penalty means the big Norwegian, the Premier League’s top scorer in the previous two seasons, has only scored once in his last seven games.
Haaland, who last week admitted his form had not been good enough during a run that has seen City’s season unravel, held his head in his hands after his failure to score from the spot.
He still has 18 goals in 25 appearances this season but has not scored in a win for his club since the 1-0 victory against last-placed Southampton on Oct. 26.
City had 24 shots to Everton’s eight, including a header that Josko Gvardiol fired off the near post in the game’s early minutes.
Silva had a brilliant chance at a second goal midway through the first half when he hit the ball on the run from the top of the 18-yard box but sent it sailing wide. City defender Rico Lewis squandered a terrific chance in injury time when he fired well over the crossbar.
“The season is not finished but (winning the league) is not a target for us at the moment,” Akanji said. “We need to focus game by game and the next game against Leicester City (on Sunday) will not be easy as well now, in the shape we are in.
“We need to focus on the positives. We did a lot of things great. We defended well and we attacked well, but were not able to finish as well as we wanted to or we could have scored three or four goals.”
While City fans quickly filed out after what would have felt like a loss, Everton supporters celebrated long after the final whistle, chanting “England’s number one” about Pickford, who tugged off his shirt and gave it to a young fan in the away end.