WATCH: Jordan Pickford saves Erling Haalnd's penalty to deny Man City lead

Manchester City are in action against Everton in the Premier League, and Pep Guardiola's team is hoping for only its second victory in the previous 13 games. The Cityzens dropped to seventh place in the Premier League after losing 2-1 to Aston Villa last weekend.

Despite their difficulties, they are only four points off of fourth place, and a victory tonight might be crucial if they want to at least qualify for the Champions League. Sean Dyche's men have risen to 15th place, four points above the relegation zone, and Everton are making the short trip east after 0-0 draws with two of the league's best teams, Arsenal and Chelsea.

The match at the beginning of Boxing Day might be intriguing because City is having trouble scoring goals and Everton appears to be skilled at stopping them. Bernardo Silva was threaded clean down the left-hand side and gave the home team an early lead on 14 minutes when he slipped the ball past Jordan Pickford.

Watch here the video:

ERLING HAALAND WTF WAS THAT PENALTY ABSOLUTELY EMBARRASSING WE ARE ACTUALLY CURSED pic.twitter.com/AAJKkIVgx6

— DxBruyne (@DxBruyne17) December 26, 2024

When the ball broke to Iliman Ndiaye in the area, he expertly poked a half-volley past Stefan Ortega to give Sean Dyche's team a level 1-1. Shortly after halftime, Vitalii Mykolenko gave up a penalty for a foul on Savinho, seemingly giving the fallen champs a chance to regain the advantage.

Jordan Pickford saves the second-highest number of penalties

Erling Haaland, who had a strong return of two from his last three penalties this season, threatened to restore the lead for the vanquished champs. Pickford, fortunately for Everton, dove low to his right to stop the Norwegian after researching all of City's possible spot-kick takers. 

Since relocating to Goodison Park in 2017, the goalkeeper has saved the second-highest amount of pens, demonstrating that his preparation has paid off before. With seven goals returned thus far, the Toffees goalkeeper has blocked more attempts from 12 yards than just Łukasz Fabiański of West Ham.

The outcome puts the champions in sixth place in the standings, three points behind Nottingham Forest in fourth place, and eleven behind leaders Liverpool, both of whom have games left on Thursday. City, whose last win came against Forest on December 4, pressed for the winner but was unable to break through Everton's defence and was forced to suffer once more.