Everton fall to Manchester City in final Goodison meeting | OneFootball

Everton fought hard to keep themselves in the fight against Manchester City on Saturday afternoon at Goodison Park, but in the end, it was the gap in quality that the visitors held over the hosts that did the Toffees in.

The two sides were fairly even through the first half, and there was a case to be made that Everton had the better of the chances before the interval, in particular a headed effort by James Tarkowski in the 31st minute off a good delivery from James Garner that went off the post.

The Blues nearly created something on the counterattack near the end of the half as well. Abdoulaye Doucoure sprung the initial spark and Jack Harrison's delivery was blocked by City's Savinho, bringing on some muted calls for a handball that were dismissed by referee Simon Hooper.

City's Kevin De Bruyne also had a close effort saved by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford near the end of the half to send the sides to the break knotted up at 0-0.

The second half was initially a lot of the same, although both Jarrad Branthwaite and Doucoure came close for Everton inside of the first five minutes.

Soon after, however, came an unlucky break for Everton. Tarkowski went down around the 49th minute, clearly uncomfortable after lunging for a tackle, and was replaced by Michael Keane in the 52nd minute.

According to FotMob's match commentary, the Englishman has started 111 consecutive Premier League games, just short of the competition record held by Frank Lampard with 112 and Wayne Bridge at 113, so the hope would be that Tarkowski's injury, which was confirmed as a hamstring after the match by David Moyes, won't hold him out for too long.

After Tarkowski went down, Everton held their own and even managed to create a few more opportunities, but in the end, Manchester City used their quality to capture the three points with two late goals.

The first came in the 84th minute from Nico O'Reilly, as the young forward made a good run and smashed in a cross from Matheus Nunes to give City the 1-0 lead.

Just a few minutes later in the 92nd minute, Ilkay Gundogan found substitute Mateo Kovacic in the box, who hit it past Pickford to double City's lead.

That would prove to be the final effort from either, as Everton just didn't have enough firepower on the day.

Manchester City move up past Nottingham Forest into fourth place with 58 points, as the Cityzens try to secure another season of Champions League Football. They'll welcome Aston Villa to the Ethiad on Tuesday for their next fixture.

For Everton, they remain in 13th with 38 points, ahead of Manchester United, who host Wolves tomorrow, on goal difference. The Toffees travel to London to take on Chelsea next Saturday, followed by their penultimate match at Goodison Park against Ipswich Town on May 3.