After Southampton’s victory against Bournemouth(3-0) earlier in the day, Everton hosted Manchester City at Goodison Park for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. In the league, the Sky Blues crush the competition and head for the title with 14 points ahead of Manchester United, second.
Ilkay Gundogan broke Everton’s stern resistance, heading home after Joao Virginia had pushed Aymeric Laporte’s effort onto the bar.
And with a minute remaining, substitute Kevin De Bruyne sealed the victory with an emphatic finish.
Everton, organised and diligent, made life difficult for City, limiting us to just a few clear openings in the first half.
In fact, Everton came the closest to scoring in the opening period when Yerry Mina’s header was cleared off the line by Oleksandr Zinchenko.
But the second-half saw City play with more fluidity. Virginia brilliantly parried Raheem Sterling’s first-time effort around the post, before Phil Foden’s left-footed strike from distance whistled inches wide.
It looked as though Everton’s diligence would take the game to extra time – but with seven minutes left on the clock, we found a breakthrough.
Laporte burst forward, played a one-two with De Bruyne, and forced a fine save from Virginia, who parried the ball onto the bar – only for Ilkay Gundogan to follow up and head home.
And a few minutes later, De Bruyne’s powerful left-footed strike confirmed our safe passage into the last four.
TEAMS
Everton: Virginia, Coleman, Godfrey, Holgate, Mina, Digne, Allan, Gomes, Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson, Richarlison
Subs: Leban, Tyrer, Broadhead, Davies, Iwobi, John, Keane, Nkounkou, Onyango
City: Steffen, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Gundogan (Rodrigo 89’), Bernardo (Mahrez 64’), Foden, Sterling (De Bruyne 79’), Jesus.
Chelsea host Sheffield United tomorrow at 13:30, before Leicester take on Manchester United at 17:00.
Quarter-final lineup
Bournemouth 0-3 Southampton
Everton 0-2 Manchester City
Chelsea v Sheffield United
Leicester City v Manchester United
