Suffering continues for Man City with 1-1 draw with Everton

Bernardo Silva scored an early goal but Erling Haaland missed a penalty as struggling Manchester City could only muster a single point in a 1-1 Premier League draw with Everton to kick off a full slate of Boxing Day games on Thursday.

The champions' slump has seen them win just once in their last 13 matches across all competitions, including one of nine league games, and they provisionally sit sixth in the table with 28 points, 11 below leaders Liverpool who have two games in hand. Pep Guardiola's team could drop to as low as eighth by the end of the day. Everton are 15th, five points above the drop zone.

The Etihad Stadium crowd breathed a sigh of relief when Silva scored in the 14th minute. Jeremy Doku played a ball in behind the Toffees' defence and Silva slid in to fire into the far corner from a tight angle, the ball deflecting off Jarrad Branthwaite and in.

The goal, which had Guardiola pumping two fists in celebration, ended Everton's streak of clean sheets at three games.

But City's celebration was short-lived. Iliman Ndiaye drew Everton level in the 36th when Manuel Akanji failed to clear a cross and the Senegalese midfielder took a touch to settle the ball then unleashed a shot from the center of the box to the top right corner.

City fans thought they had victory locked up when Haaland stepped up to the penalty spot in the second half after Vitaliy Mykolenko's tackle on Savinho, but goalkeeper Jordan Pickford dived correctly to safe the shot. The rebound was sent back in and Haaland headed into the back of the net, but it was chalked off for offside.

The big Norwegian, who was the Premier League's top scorer in the previous two seasons, has netted just four times in City's last 14 league games.

In other action, Liverpool opened up a seven-point gap at the top as they came from a goal down to beat Leicester City 3-1 at Anfield after second-placed Chelsea lost at home to Fulham.

Arne Slot's Liverpool could not have asked for a better start to a flurry of festive fixtures as goals by Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah sealed the points. The victory extended their unbeaten league run to 13 games and put Liverpool on 42 points from 17 games.

Chelsea had earlier surrendered a lead at home to Fulham to lose 2-1, with Rodrigo Muniz scoring for the visitors in the 95th minute for their first victory at Stamford Bridge since 1979. Enzo Maresca's Chelsea have 35 points from 18 games.