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Everton’s Jordan Pickford showcased his cleverness by revealing a cheat sheet on his water bottle just before he made a vital save against Erling Haaland’s penalty during the match against Manchester City.
Pickford, 30 years old, has been in outstanding form for the Toffees recently, consistently delivering impressive performances while Sean Dyche’s team fights to avoid falling into the Premier League relegation zone this season.
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The England goalkeeper was called into action 53 minutes into the game, with the score level at 1-1 at the Etihad Stadium, after teammate Iliman Ndiaye scored to equalize following Bernardo Silva’s initial goal.
Savinho skillfully navigated the ball past Vitalii Mykolenko, resulting in a foul in the box and awarding Manchester City a penalty.
Haaland, 24 years old, took the penalty, looking to boost Man City’s morale after a series of disappointing results that left them with just one win in their last 12 matches.
The star forward was undeterred by Everton captain Seamus Coleman, who tried to distract him and ended up receiving a booking.
Pickford, aiming to unsettle the Norwegian, pulled a funny face that resembled the intimidating haka performed by New Zealand rugby players, sticking out his tongue.
Unlike Coleman, Pickford’s tactic proved effective as he dove to his right and managed to deflect Haaland’s shot with relative ease.
Although Haaland subsequently headed the ball into the net, he was deemed offside.
Meanwhile, cameras caught Pickford checking the cheat sheet on his water bottle just prior to the penalty.
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This cheat sheet contained insights on the typical shot placements of Manchester City’s most frequent penalty takers.
The stats included shooting tendencies for Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish, and Mateo Kovacic.
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The statistics indicated that Foden tends to shoot to the goalkeeper’s left, Doku to the right, Grealish down the middle, and Kovacic to the right.
Interestingly, Haaland’s shooting stats were absent from that section of the bottle, despite being the primary penalty taker for the Citizens.
Ultimately, Pickford emerged as the hero, successfully securing a crucial point for Everton.
In contrast, Manchester City’s woes continued, with only one victory in their last 13 matches, suffering nine defeats in that time.
