Mahrez the match winner
"Holy smokes, that is unbelievable!" chimed Ally McCoist, as Riyad Mahrez fired the ball into the back of the net and all but secured the three points for Manchester City.
With the scores level at half-time, the match became a slog in the second-half with Everton digging in deep to hold on to their point and City struggling to pick their way through.
Enter Mahrez, who, after being teed up by Bernardo Silva, rifled the ball into the top corner with his first touch to give the Blues the lead.
The Algerian also played a crucial role in Phil Foden's opener, as he calmly controlled a looping clearance from a corner, despite calls from Everton defenders to "smash him!", and sent the ball back into the box where it eventually found the goal scorer.
Mahrez has become a bit of a forgotten man of late, losing his regular place on the flank to Foden and he only had a single goal and assist to his name in 2021 before tonight. However, his excellent match winning display just shows he still has a crucial role to play as City compete on multiple fronts.
An uplifting return
After winning their game in hand City are now 10 points clear at the top of the table and it doesn't look like anyone is catching them any time soon.
But if there is one reason why their form could dip it is because the fixture list will soon start increasing in intensity once again.
With the Champions League starting again next week and the Blues still in the FA Cup, March is looking like an exhausting month which makes it all the more better that Kevin De Bruyne is back.
The brilliant Belgian came on following a month on the sidelines with 10 minutes remaining after Bernardo Silva scored an excellent third. Within a minute he had already played a pass most us could hardly imagine, showing he hasn't lost a step.
With the business end of the campaign quickly approaching, De Bruyne's return couldn't have come at a better time.
Jesus sends transfer reminder
It wasn't a completely positive night, however, and Gabriel Jesus may well still be disappointed with his own performance.
While the Brazilian showed some excellent interplay, he was once again unreliable in front of goal as he twice fired high over the bar in great positions while the game was level.
His teammates bailed him out, but against tougher opposition or in high-stakes European ties, those misses could be fatal and it shows City's urgent need for a new striker.
With Erling Haaland putting on another master class for Borussia Dortmund against Sevilla on the same night, the ideal target couldn't be more obvious.
Left-back is sorted
One position City don't need to worry about as much any more though is at left-back, thanks to the continued excellence of Joao Cancelo.
The Portuguese has been deployed at right-back in recent matches but, once again, had no struggles what's so ever in switching to the opposite flank and still having a massive impact on the game.
If the ball was on his side of the pitch he would be gusting a gut on the overlap to stretch the game as much of possible, if it was on the opposite flank he would tuck deep into midfield to offer another outlet and was always tidy on the ball. It's no surprise Pep Guardiola loves him so much with such supreme positioning.
With Aleks Zinchenko also in great form and Benjamin Mendy, Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake all capable of playing left-back, City can put all their focus and money into a new striker in the summer.
The importance of Gundogan
One player who wasn't available tonight was Ilkay Gundogan after he picked up a groin injury against Tottenham and it was apparent how important he has become to the side.
Not only because the German has hit a rich vein of goal scoring form, but mostly for his patience in midfield. Gundogan is often the man who is able to recycle the ball again and again and again, to keep City ticking while waiting for the eventual gap to appear.
Although City did win comfortably, the winning goals were uncharacteristic crackers from the edge of the box, rather than the tap ins from six yards we've become accustomed to. City struggled a tad to break down a resolute defence without their new midfield maestro.
Thankfully, both Gundogan and Guardiola are up-beat about his fitness and it seems likely that he will return for Sunday's trip to Arsenal.
