Everton 0 Manchester City 1: Phil Foden breaks the deadlock late on

There was fury at the final whistle. The home crowd booed, Ashley Cole ran onto jab an angry finger at Paul Tierney and Donny van de Beek joined Everton's coach to bark at the referee and his assistants. Cole got himself a booking; van de Beek almost turned puce.

As the tempest began to swell, Pep Guardiola slipped quietly past and embraced the Manchester City players within his vicinity. Finally, he was smiling but it was nearly not the case. Guardiola's team had eked out a scruffy 1-0 victory and that was all that mattered.

This was not the City we have come to expect. They huffed and puffed with little end product and Everton, who worked prodigiously, deserved more. Poor Michael Keane looked crestfallen at the end, as his mistake had presented Phil Foden with the chance to pilfer the decisive goal.

Phil Foden celebrates after scoring what proved to be the game's only goal as Manchester City won against Everton

Foden capitalised upon hesitation from Everton defender Michael Keane as he slotted the ball past Jordan Pickford

Everton put in a spirited performance but felt they should have got a penalty for a Rodri handball in the closing stages

How big those events will be in the long run, only time will tell. As things stand, after last week's shock defeat to Tottenham, City's lead over Liverpool is back to six points but there are issues for their manager to address.

You could see as early as the 12th minute that something was vexing Guardiola. He does his best to watch from a seat in the dugout but, when things don't go as he envisages, up the Catalan gets, fidgeting, gesticulating and barking out instructions.

Here, a promising move down the right had broken down and Guardiola began to bubble like a saucepan approaching boiling point. He waved his arms at Raheem Sterling, his eyes were wide and it was obvious to all that this was nothing like the City we have come to expect.

Foden clashes with Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure during what was a hard-fought encounter at Goodison Park

The victory could prove to be hugely important for Pep Guardiola's side in their bid to win the Premier League title

His anxiety began to transmit to Evertonians and, quickly, the noise levels increased. Each successful tackle was greeted with a roar of approval, each sprint to close down space was roared on with gusto. When you see the home team working like this, you cannot fathom why they are in trouble.

Nobody epitomised Everton's endeavour and courage more than Jonjoe Kenny, who scuttled from his left-back station in the 22nd minute all the way across to the other side of the pitch to make a sliding tackle on Kevin De Bruyne that stopped City's talisman dead in his tracks.

He was not alone in showing such commitment. Donny van de Beek was excellent, on the left hand side of a midfield three, passing with clarity and tackling with tenacity; Seamus Coleman, Everton's indefatigable captain, kept a steady hand on the tiller.

Lampard knew, to stand any chance of getting some points, that Everton's work rate had to be faultless and that was absolutely the case before half-time. Allan, the pint-sized Brazilian, scuttled and scurried to put out fires, while Abdoulaye Doucoure's return brought much-needed class.

It said everything for how well Everton defended that the only opportunities - if they could be called that - for City were shots from De Bruyne (in the 29th minute) and Bernardo Silva (in the 41st minute) that were straight at Jordan Pickford and caused him no panic.

This wasn't just about back against the wall defending, though, and Everton could - perhaps should - have had the lead just after the half-hour when Allan carried the ball to the edge of the area and spotted Kenny, who was surging forward, but the full-back's shot fizzed into the side-netting.

Hands stuffed into his pockets, Guardiola muttered to himself and turned to jabber at his assistant Juanma Lillo and Rodolfo Borrell. When the interval came, he marched back to City's makeshift dressing room on the other side of the stadium with plenty of issues to solve.

Everton, by contrast, left the field to thunderous applause. There had been plenty to offer encouragement to their fans, who have suffered this season, but the one nagging doubt you had was whether their fitness and stamina levels could be sustained.

Doucoure had only returned to full training a few days ago, having been out since January 22 with a groin issue; van de Beek has hardly been well-versed in playing 90 minutes at this tempo and it was going to be a big ask for the tempo to be maintained.

When the second period started, you could see a pattern emerging. Everton began to drop deep, City began to have the ball and they rhythmically prodded and probed, sending the ball left then right then back again, playing rope-a-dope with their hosts.

For all their territorial dominance, mind you, it was not as if Everton were having to cling on to parity with their fingertips. Michael Keane and Mason Holgate had control of things in the middle, City's desire to try and score the perfect goal saw them consistently fall short in a forest of legs.

Yes, they did have their moments. In the 56th minute, a quite wonderful pass from Bernardo out to Phil Foden on the left invited the England international to shoot without breaking his stride but, for all the power he mustered, Pickford was able to beat it away.

Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo expresses his joy at the full-time whistle as City's victory is confirmed

City substitute Gabriel Jesus attempts to keep the ball while under pressure from Everton defender Seamus Coleman

Everton boss Frank Lampard was left frustrated as Everton dropped points in the relegation battle despite a good display

Ukraine internationals Vitaliy Mykolenko (L) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (R) were on the bench for Everton and City respectively

Everton's goalkeeper bettered that in the 67th minute; De Bruyne moved forward with menace and zipped a daisycutter towards the bottom corner that Pickford repelled; the rebound, however ended up at the feet of Bernardo but he was denied by a magnificent one-handed save.

Was this going to be Everton's day? It felt that way, as City started to run out of ideas, but in the 81st minute, the breakthrough arrived. It was scruffy, a deflected cross, an error from Keane but Foden gleefully gobbled up the opportunity and was away celebrating.

There was still time for more controversy - quite why referee Paul Tierney didn't look at the pitchside monitor when Rodri appeared to hand ball was a mystery - but the win was City's. And the relief Guardiola felt was mighty.

Recap as Sportsmail's JEORGE BIRD provided live Premier League coverage of Everton vs Manchester City, including build-up, team news and updates.