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Romelu Lukaku ensured a nervy finale with a second for the home side but City, for whom keeper Joe Hart made several fine saves, hung on to move above Liverpool on goal difference.
Both sides have 80 points with two games to play while Chelsea are third on 78, also with two games to play beginning at home to relegation-haunted Norwich City on Sunday.
Liverpool play their penultimate game away to Crystal Palace on Monday with City, who boast a nine-goal superior goal difference, at home to Villa on Wednesday before next Sunday’s finale to a gripping season.
“It was a really, really big step. To play here against Everton is difficult,” City manager Manuel Pellegrini told Sky Sports. “We won and that is important.
“The pressure is maybe too high to play your best football. It is not easy to recover from a goal down but we did.”
City’s relief was in marked contrast to the emotions experienced by Cardiff and Fulham whose relegation was confirmed by a surprise 1-0 win for Sunderland at Manchester United.
Sebastian Larrson’s first-half goal gave Sunderland their first win at Old Trafford since 1968 - a result that took them beyond the reach of Cardiff, 3-0 losers at Newcastle United, and Fulham who were crushed 4-1 at Stoke City.
Gus Poyet’s side’s third consecutive victory took them to 35 points in 17th place with two games remaining while Cardiff (30) and Fulham (31) only have one left.
Sunderland will be guaranteed survival if Norwich lose away at Chelsea on Sunday.
“I said a long time ago that we would fight to the end, and what a game of football we played today,” Poyet, whose side reached the League Cup final this season, told the BBC. “I hope my old team Chelsea give me a hand tomorrow.”
For United’s caretaker manager Ryan Giggs it was a sobering afternoon after the high of his side’s 4-0 win against Norwich last weekend in his first match in charge since taking over from David Moyes, who was sacked last week.
“I feel flat. The players were flat and I don’t know why. Credit to Sunderland, they are in good form, and they created the best chances. We lacked that bit of quality in the final third,” Giggs said after United’s seventh home league defeat of the season – their worst record since 1973-74 when they went down.
Defeat left United in seventh spot, six points behind Tottenham and while they have a game extra to play they now look like missing out on Europa League football next season when Dutchman Louis van Gaal is favourite to be in charge.
Shola Ameobi, Loic Remy and Steven Taylor all scored for Newcastle to make Cardiff’s return to the top flight for the first time since 1962 a brief one.
While it was Cardiff who went down, however, the home fans were also restless with a protest during the match against manager Alan Pardew and owner Mike Ashley.
A 69th minute ‘walk-out’ was planned and while many did vacate their seats it was not the thousands predicted.
Peter Odemwingie, Marko Arnautovic, Oussama Assaidi and Jonathan Walters all scored for Stoke as Fulham’s 13-year stay in the Premier League came to an abrupt end and gave manager Felix Magath his first taste of relegation as a coach.
In an early kickoff West Ham United guaranteed their safety, reaching 40 points with a 2-0 win over 10-man Tottenham Hotspur – their third victory over their London rivals this season.
Southampton won 1-0 at Swansea City with Rickie Lambert’s stoppage time winner while Aston Villa, who began the day not mathematically safe, beat FA Cup finalists Hull City 3-1.
Man City were not at their best against an Everton side who have run out of steam of late but showed their mettle to claw out a hugely important victory.
They were stunned when Barkley curled a shot beyond Hart after 11 minutes but they were level soon afterwards when Aguero scored with a near-post shot shortly before hobbling off.
Dzeko’s towering header gave City the lead in the 43rd minute and the tall striker stabbed in Samir Nasri’s low cross early in the second half to give his side a cushion.
City retreated in the latter stages though and when Lukaku’s diving header reduced the deficit in the 65th minute another twist in the title race looked possible.
Hart had to make one sharp save to deny Gerard Deulofeu but City held on to move into the final week of the season with a slender, but probably decisive, advantage.
Barca’s last major title chance slipping awayReuters: Barcelona were left facing their first season without any major silverware in six years after they conceded in the second minute of added time in a tepid 2-2 La Liga draw at home to lowly Getafe on Saturday.
Barca’s feeble showing means Atletico Madrid can stretch their advantage at the top to six points with two games left, including a visit to the Nou Camp on the final day of the season, with a win at Levante on Sunday.
Real Madrid are three points behind Barca in third and well placed to overhaul their arch rivals as they have Sunday’s match at home to Valencia and Wednesday’s trip to struggling Real Valladolid in hand.
Barca captain Xavi conceded that a fifth La Liga title in six years was next to impossible for the Catalan giants and had some harsh criticism for himself and his team mates.
At the start of April Barca were well placed to repeat their record treble of La Liga, Champions League and King’s Cup from 2008-09 but are now likely to end the campaign with nothing more than the season-opening Spanish Super Cup.
They were dumped out of Europe’s elite club competition by Atletico last month and a week later Real beat them 2-1 in the final of the King’s Cup. The defeats capped a miserable season that also included the resignation of president Sandro Rosell over alleged irregularities in the signing of Brazil forward Neymar and the death of former coach Tito Vilanova from throat cancer. Failure to win a major title will increase the pressure on Gerardo Martino in his first season in charge after succeeding Vilanova and there has been widespread speculation he will leave at the end of the campaign halfway through a two-year contract. |
