It was the battle of the blues as Manchester City welcomed a visit from Everton on Saturday, who held them to a draw in a pulsating clash.  

City made a bright start to the game as they forced Everton onto the backfoot from the onset, with Leroy Sane looking particularly dangerous. Romelu Lukaku then had the Toffees’ first chance as he fired a free kick over the bar after nine minutes.

Kevin de Bruyne had his powerful shot nick off a defender for a corner before the midfielder fired a free kick into the wall a few minutes later. With City pressurising constantly, Everton were desperately hanging on.

David Silva fired an effort over the bar after 27 minutes but chances proved hard to come by over the following minutes as Everton remained camped inside their own area.

City were handed a glorious opportunity to score when they were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half time. De Bruyne stepped up but saw his shot well saved, keeping the scores level at 0-0 at the interval.

Gerard Duelofeu’s cracking shot from range provided an early test for City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to start the second half before Kelechi Iheanacho almost bundled the ball over the line a few minutes later.

Everton took a shock lead against the run of play after 64 minutes as Lukaku slotted past Bravo after being fed down the left channel. City were then handed a way back into the tie just six minutes later as they were gifted another penalty. Yet again they were denied, however, as Everton held onto their lead with 70 minutes played.

Nolito finally did find an equaliser for City as he netted with virtually his first touch of the ball. Maarten Stekelenburg then did well to keep the Toffees in the game as he produced yet another save to deny De Bruyne.

In the end neither side could find a winning goal as the game ended all square at 1-1.

Elsewhere, Bournemouth hit a hapless Hull City for six as they crushed the Tigers in a 6-1 victory.