‘Exhilarating’ Everton were at ‘the start of something exciting’ after Pep Guardiola embarrassed
Ahead of Manchester City making their first trip to Hill Dickinson Stadium, we look back at a classic Everton home match against them
05:00, 04 May 2026
Tom Davies celebrates after scoring during the match between Everton and Manchester City at Goodison Park on January 15, 2017(Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Manchester City have now won nine consecutive away games at Everton in all competitions and are unbeaten in the clubs’ last 18 clashes, but that wasn’t the case when Pep Guardiola visited Goodison Park for the first time. On January 15, 2017, Guardiola’s side were blown away 4-0 by his former Barcelona team-mate Ronald Koeman’s men.
While Dutch master Koeman was unable to inspire a Golden Age at Goodison, this game stands out as by far his most aesthetically pleasing piece of work over what proved to be a brief Everton tenure. It will also have been a result that produced great personal satisfaction for Koeman as it came against his former Barcelona team-mate.
As players, the Netherlands international – the most prolific scoring defender in elite football thanks to his superb long-range shooting, particularly from free-kicks – was the greater talent, but, as coaches, Guardiola, who subsequently steered City to a Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup treble in 2023, has enjoyed far more success.
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Brought in as Farhad Moshiri’s first managerial appointment, Koeman was the box- office name the new owner wanted to compete with the other stars on the touchline in England’s North West (Guardiola, Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho), a region the Iranian-born businessman had dubbed ‘The Hollywood of Football.’ But other than when Koeman turned out for Barca, and there was nowhere bigger to go, he has always been something of a nomad.
He is the only man to both play for and coach all of the ‘big three’ clubs in his homeland (Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord) and there were always lingering doubts about his commitment to the Blues with what seemed like a cool, business-like approach from the start. His unveiling as Everton manager was done from his villa in Portugal rather than cutting short a holiday and, during his time in charge, he set up home an hour’s drive from Merseyside, tucked away in the affluent Cheshire village of Alderley Edge, where many of the fellow millionaire locals would be less concerned about the red decorations on his Christmas Tree than some of the incensed Goodison patrons.
Looking beyond the mini festive furore over the hue of his baubles, Koeman’s methods were starting to take shape by the turn of the calendar year. There had already been setbacks, with early exits from both domestic cup competitions and a last-gasp Goodison defeat to Liverpool the previous month, but progress was being made, and Romelu Lukaku’s regular supply of goals was helping keeping the side afloat.
Indeed, Lukaku had put Everton ahead against Guardiola’s side when they’d met at the Etihad Stadium in October, a game that saw Koeman’s fellow Dutchman Maarten Stekelenburg save two penalties (from Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero) before Nolito earned the hosts a point. The return match at Goodison was to be a much more one-sided encounter.
Deploying a 3-5-2 formation, Koeman out-thought Guardiola, while his Everton players outfought Manchester City on the pitch. Phil Kirkbride of the ECHO wrote: “The significance of this victory was not in breaking that long wait to stick four past City, as exhilarating as it felt, but in what it represented for the Blues boss.
“The real meaning was that it left you with the unmistakable belief that this could be the start of something exciting; because when it works like this, as Koeman plans meticulously during the week, then Everton are a match for anybody.
“Don’t allow your praise for the Blues be put against a context of Man City’s misery and the growing pains of the world’s finest manager adapting to English football because this was fully deserved, worked for and earned. Never before, under Koeman, have Everton played as close to his instruction as this.”
Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City reacts as Ronald Koeman, manager of Everton looks on
Lukaku set them on their way on 34 minutes with a left-foot finish from 12 yards out after a neat interchange of passes from home-grown heroes, Tom Davies and Ross Barkley. Davies headed a Bacary Sagna header off the line before the break but after the interval the Blues took charge with Kevin Mirallas doubling their lead on 47 minutes with a low right-foot drive from another Barkley assist.
Man-of-the-match Davies produced a sublime third goal to open his account for the club, with the 18-year-old marauding upfield, playing a one-two with Barkley, before despatching what Kirkbride described as a “deft, exquisite, cheeky and wholly confident chip” over Claudio Bravo with 11 minutes remaining.
There was enough time left for another teenager to get in on the act as Ademola Lookman, signed from Charlton Athletic earlier that month, came on for his debut on 90 minutes and smashed home a fourth goal in stoppage time after Seamus Coleman had shown greater desire to get to the ball than former Blues player John Stones. As Kirkbride concluded: “This, by some distance, was Everton’s biggest scalp of the season. It was Koeman’s best day as manager.”
