Thanks to late goals from Nico O’Reilly and Mateo Kovacic, Manchester City won 2-0 against Everton and took another step in their quest to qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season.
The 20-year-old earned rave reviews in particular for his showing, with Chris Sutton lauding O’Reilly’s display against Everton and dubbing him a “quality player.”
Even Phil Foden encouraged O’Reilly after Manchester City beat Everton to celebrate with the travelling fans at Goodison Park as he scored his second Premier League goal in back-to-back weeks.
Meanwhile, Kovacic’s strike was his sixth league goal of the season in what has been his most productive goalscoring campaign in England.
But Jeremy Doku deserves all the credit in the world for being Manchester City’s ultimate game-changer as they beat Everton.
Jeremy Doku changed the game for Man City vs Everton
Manchester City huffed and puffed before Doku’s introduction and it seemed like Everton were destined to either take home a point or even upset the visitors by clinching the all-important three points.
But Pep Guardiola eventually brought Jeremy Doku on against Everton and it’s safe to say that he gave Jake O’Brien a torrid time.
The stats make a case for how influential Doku was, as he replaced Savinho — who proved once again that he is at his best on the left flank as he immediately changed the tempo of the game with his direct approach.
| JEREMY DOKU STATS VS EVERTON | |
| DRIBBLES COMPLETED | 3/3 |
| PASSES INTO THE FINAL THIRD | 1 |
| TOUCHES IN OPPOSITION BOX | 3 |
| DUELS WON | 5/5 |
£55.5 million man Doku played with such fearlessness and intent that his Manchester City teammates seemed to feed off his approach — with Ilkay Gundogan upping his game in the latter stage of his side’s clash against Everton as well.
David Moyes made the rookie mistake of not telling his players to double up on the Belgian, who was especially hard to tame as he used his deceptive strength to shrug Jake O’Brien off and dart past him on numerous instances.
Ola Aina revealed how relentless Doku is and O’Brien must have felt that as well — with the former Rennes winger eventually providing the pre-assist that led to Kovacic’s goal in what was an electric cameo from him.
What Pep Guardiola said about Jeremy Doku’s cameo vs Everton
If Manchester City end up qualifying for the Champions League at the end of the campaign, the fans will highlight Doku’s display against Everton as being a key reason.
Pep Guardiola highlighted how well the youngster fared against the Toffees in his post-match press conference as well.
Guardiola said via BeanymanSports: “Doku was really good, so aggressive with his incredible quality.”
Surely, the Premier League champion has now done enough to earn himself a start against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday next.
