Five days earlier, goals from Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden had rendered Manchester City officially the best team on the planet. Having swapped Saudi Arabia for Merseyside, they struck again to give them the status as the fourth finest side in the Premier League, at least according to the table. And for that slender prize, City could be grateful. Trailing at Goodison Park, with a solitary victory in their previous six league games, they had a new badge on their shirt, denoting their Club World Cup win, but were staring at an eight-point deficit to the Premier League summit.
Then came a comeback with a pair of familiar scorers, a win augmented by Bernardo Silva’s glorious finish into an empty net. For a side still shorn of Erling Haaland, who missed a sixth consecutive match and may not even be fit for the trip to Newcastle on 13 January, there had been a need for a catalyst.
