Manchester City's hopes of defending their English Premier League title went up in smoke, after 10-man Everton pulled off a brilliant 2-0 victory at Goodison Park.
Goals from Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic gave Everton a deserved three points, with the home side down to ten men for the last half hour after seeing Steven Peinaar sent off.
City needed to win every single one of their ten games to stand even the remotest chance of pulling back the 12-point deficit from Manchester United; but following their defeat at Goodison, it is United who are going to be holding the Premier League trophy aloft in May.
The Red Devils play in the late game against relegation-threatened Reading, and can go 15 points with a win, with a mere nine games to go.
David Moyes and his men felt like they owed their supporters a good game following that horrific showing against Wigan in the F.A. Cup quarterfinals last weekend, and they did just that. The Toffees started the much brighter side and looked like the obvious candidates to get the first goal.
City were poor and kept giving the ball away with the likes of starved for service and Carlos Tevez and David Silva very much in the periphery in the first 45 minutes.
The home side felt they had opened the scoring when Kevin Mirallas fired home a brilliant half volley with his left-foot, but the referee's assistant incorrectly ruled the goal offside, much to Everton's chagrin. The referee's assistant would have another howler later on in the game as well.
However, it did not seem to matter much, as Everton, who moved up to fifth with the win, went into the lead in the 32nd minute.
Seamus Coleman, who had a really good game at right-back, played the ball across to Osman just outside the box, with the Everton midfielder curling a peach with the outside of his left foot. The ball swung viciously from the middle of the goal to the top corner, leaving Joe Hart with no chance.
The second half needed a City side to come up with a reply, but instead what everyone witnessed was the Premier League champions putting in a performance very similar to the one against Southampton a few weeks back.
None of the high-earning members, perhaps apart from the hard-working Tevez, did anything of merit. They were given the perfect opportunity, though, when Steven Pienaar got his marching orders for a silly challenge on Aleksandar Kolarov. The referee had no option but to give a second yellow card, leaving Everton having to defend for their lives for 30 minutes.
However, again, City just did not show enough quality to break through the home side's rearguard, with Tevez coming closest, forcing a good save of Jan Mucha.
City should have had a penalty late on though, with Marouane Fellaini handling a Tevez shot inside the area. Referee Lee Probert gave a freekick, but the assistant seemed to miss the fact that Fellaini handled the long-range strike inside the box, with the Belgian midfielder's landing outside the box seemingly throwing off the officials.
Soon after, Everton hit City on the counter, with Fellaini setting up substitute Nikica Jelavic to curl one into the top corner and send the home fans, Manchester United fans and the manager into delirium.
