Man City close in on Champions League thanks to Everton late show

LIVERPOOL: Manchester City’s chances of Champions League football next season were given a huge boost as two late goals from Nico O´Reilly and Mateo Kovacic beat Everton 2-0 on Saturday to move up to fourth in the Premier League.

O’Reilly turned in Matheus Nunes’ inviting cross in the 84th minute before Kovacic blasted in from the edge of the box to turn an uninspired performance from Pep Guardiola’s men into a priceless three points.

Just Everton’s third defeat in 15 league games since David Moyes returned for a second spell as manager means they have to wait to mathematically guarantee survival.

Guardiola said on the eve of the game that he was content to be in the running for Champions League qualification as his side could have been in the bottom half of the table given some of their struggles in a season to forget.

The drop-off in quality from the side that have been English champions for the past four seasons was in evidence at Goodison Park until a late flurry against the tiring Toffees.

A top-five finish will be enough for City to qualify for the Champions League for a 15th consecutive season.

Guardiola’s side still have little margin for error in the final five matches of the season but open up a four-point lead on sixth-placed Chelsea.

The visitors dominated possession throughout but Everton were rarely troubled until the closing stages as they sat back and waited for the chance to strike on the counter-attack or from a set-piece.

It was the home side who came closest to breaking the deadlock before half-time when James Tarkowski’s header from a corner came back off the post.

Kevin De Bruyne rolled back the years in City’s fightback from 2-0 down to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 last weekend.

However, the Belgian has often been a shadow of his former self in his final season in Manchester and struggled to put his stamp on proceedings. De Bruyne did have City’s best first-half effort when his goalbound shot was blocked by Jake O’Brien.

Everton were left to rue not making the most of a positive start to the second period.

Jarrad Branthwaite should have scored when he nodded straight at Stefan Ortega after Tarkowski won another header inside the City box.

But the loss of Tarkowski to a muscle injury that could end his season proved to be a turning point.

Savinho’s low shot from the edge of the box that was well-saved by Jordan Pickford and a wasted chance from Omar Marmoush, who fluffed his lines with just the England goalkeeper to beat, proved to be warnings Everton did not heed.

O’Reilly has made a big impact in recent weeks deputising at left-back and the 20-year-old netted his first Premier League goal when Nunes drilled in a low cross.

Substitute Kovacic made the points safe with an accurate low drive from Marmoush’s lay-off to take City a huge step closer to minimising the damage of a disappointing season.