Manchester City recorded a big win over Everton on Saturday to keep their Champions League hopes alive.
Manchester City are currently in a big battle to secure qualification for the Champions League next season, so a 2-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park was vital.
City struggled for the most part against the Toffees.
But the injury to James Tarkowski for the hosts was significant, and it allowed City to apply a bit more pressure and unnerve their backline.
Nico O’Reilly gave City the lead on 84 minutes, turning in a cross from Matheus Nunes from the right side.
Then in injury-time, Mateo Kovacic made sure of the victory, firing home after a lay-off by Ilkay Gundogan.
It was a huge win for City, and one man who played a significant part was Matheus Nunes, who received his flowers on Match of the Day.
Martin Keown wowed by Matheus Nunes for Man City in Everton win
It’s been a very interesting season for Nunes.
The Portuguese has found himself playing at right-back a lot recently, as opposed to in midfield.
Against Everton, he made two big contributions – first the assist for O’Reilly, and then he won the ball back for City just a few moments before Kovacic scored.
Man City fans moved to praise Nunes after the win over Everton, with many feeling he was one of the top performers.
And on Match of the Day, pundit Martin Keown sang his praises.
He said: “Nunes, gets a lot of criticism, but I thought today he was quite outstanding alongside Nico O’Reilly.
“They played like inverted full-backs and what it meant was that the midfield players could then push up on the top line, and that five was really pinning Everton back.
“Nunes gets an opportunity here at the edge of the box. He’s much maligned. He hasn’t really been given much opportunity in the team. Not playing, certainly, in his favoured position.
“Here he shows really good confidence, hits that from distance. Arms in the air, give me the ball, I want to play and they kept finding him.
“We know he’s got good pace, so he drives forward with the ball. Here he plays intelligently. He slows his run down, then suddenly makes a darting run. Lovely ball from Silva, De Bruyne on the edge of the box – on another day, he should have put that away.”
Nunes has had unfair criticism this season
Nunes – a £53 million signing (Sky Sports) – recorded his ninth assist of the season for City against Everton.
Considering he has rarely played in his favoured position of going from box to box in midfield, that is a really good return.
As Keown says, Nunes has been maligned at times this season. Even Pep Guardiola publicly questioned Nunes’ capabilities as a midfielder, which some fans felt was harsh.
But at times, the criticism he’s come in for has been unfair, as he has clearly made some good contributions in a struggling team.
Nunes is currently learning an alien position, and doing a decent job. We know he has a mistake in him, but that is to be expected as it’s not his natural role.
Nunes is someone who could leave City in the summer. But performances like against Everton might just help him to stick around, and perhaps morph into a natural full-back.
