This City side looks liberated playing without the weight of expectation which seemed to drag them down last season. David Silva was at his best with so much space to operate as Raheem Stirling and Jesus Navas stretched Everton wide. Silva found Stirling on the left and the winger slowed down to find an overlapping Kolarov entering the box. The full back’s shot from a tight angle took Tim Howard by surprise and slipped in near post. The American could have done better. However he did really well saving two Navas shots, one straight to his face.
City added a late goal with Samir Nasri cheekily lobbing a shot over Howard after receiving a magnificent reverse pass from Yaya Toure. Everton’s best player was Seamus Coleman who tried in vain to make up for a disappointing Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku. The midfielder constantly ran into traffic trying too hard to wiggle out with eye catching footwork. Lukaku was ineffectual and was unable to get around Kompany and Mangala putting on a tour de force at the heart of defence.