EPL: Manchester City miss two penalties in Everton draw

Manchester City missed two penalties in a draw with Everton as they were joined at the top of the table by Arsenal.

Everton goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg saves a penalty from Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero.

Manchester City missed two penalties in a 1-1 draw with Everton yesterday morning (AEDT) as they were joined at the top of the Premier League table by Arsenal.

Arsenal leapfrogged Tottenham Hotspur into second place by beating Swanswea 3-2 after their arch north London rivals also dropped points in a 1-1 draw away to West Bromwich Albion.

Everton goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg saved penalties from Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Agu­ero — his second spot-kick failure this week after he was off target in Argentina’s World Cup qualifying defeat by Paraguay.

Romelu Lukaku fired the visitors ahead in the 64th minute at Eastlands before substitute Agu­ero’s miss.

But City, who have now gone three games without a win in all competitions, equalised in the 72nd minute when Nolito headed in Silva’s cross as former Barcelona teammates turned rival managers Pep Guardiola (City) and Ronald Koeman (Everton) had to settle for a point apiece.

“We did absolutely everything — Everton create just one chance which was a goal,” Guardiola said.

“The players have all the qualities to score penalties but we miss a lot. Hopefully we will score more of them in future.”

Liverpool will go level with the top two if they beat archrivals Manchester United tomorrow morning (AEDT).

Tottenham dominated possession at The Hawthorns only for former Spurs star Nacer Chadli to put the Baggies ahead eight minutes from time. But Dele Alli’s 89th-minute equaliser preserved Spurs’ unbeaten league record this season. Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said: “We missed the opportunity to achieve three points but in the same way it was a difficult game.”

Chelsea hammered champions Leicester City 3-0 at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Victor Moses. Defeat means the Foxes have won two of their eight league games this season and manager Claudio Ranieri, a former Chelsea boss, said: “Our approach to the match was not good.”

The result gave Antonio Conte, a much-needed win after speculation he was about to be sacked as Chelsea manager.

“From the start I asked them to play well with intensity and to try to do what we are doing in training,” said Conte.

Stoke earned their first league win of the season as Wales international Joe Allen made it four goals in his past three games by scoring twice in a 2-0 win at home to basement club Sunderland.

Meanwhile West Ham climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win away to London rivals Crystal Palace. Manuel Lanzini’s 19th-minute goal proved decisive in a match where Palace’s Christian Benteke missed a penalty on the stroke of halftime.

The Hammers won despite being reduced to 10 men for the final 15 minutes after Aaron Cresswell was sent off.

“I’ve been the first one lately to criticise the team and the way we played, but tonight we showed we haven’t given up and how much it means to us put a win on the board,” West Ham captain Mark Noble said.

Bournemouth thrashed Hull 6-1 as Mike Phelan’s first game in fulltime charge of the Tigers ended in defeat.

AFP