Carlos Tevez's penalty saves Manchester City in 1-1 draw with Everton

Influential Toffees midfielder Fellaini drew first blood for the visitors on the 33rd minute at the Etihad Stadium as he saw his initial headed effort from close range parried by City goalkeeper Joe Hart before bundling home the rebound.

But Fellaini went from hero to villain 10 minutes later when referee Lee Probert pointed to the spot after he appeared to tug Edin Dzeko in the penalty box and Tevez made no mistake slotting home past Tim Howard down the middle.

The match took some while to warm up and City suffered an early blow as Aleksandar Kolarov limped off after just six minutes. Manager Roberto Mancini had opted to rest the hard-working Pablo Zabaleta but the in-form Argentinian was summoned from the bench straight away.

Everton's 33rd-minute opener came in familiar fashion as the ever-dangerous Leighton Baines, who passed a fitness test to feature, crossed and Fellaini eventually headed in.

Vincent Kompany did well to divert the cr oss away from Nikica Jelavic but it dropped for Fellaini, who headed home at the second attempt at the far post after Hart saved his initial effort. It was the Belgian's eighth goal of an impressive season.

That brought the game to life and City almost found an immediate equaliser as Tevez met a Samir Nasri cross with a deft header that Howard did well to save.

Gareth Barry then chested down another Nasri cross for Dzeko to turn and shoot but again Howard was alert.

Controversy followed the resulting corner as Dzeko tangled with Fellaini and went to ground. Referee Lee Probert sparked immediate protest from Everton by pointing to the spot and Toffees manager David Moyes clearly thought the award was harsh.

Tevez made no mistake as he stepped up to tuck home his eighth of the campaign.

City upped the tempo at the start of the second half but again it took time before the chances came, aside from a Tevez shot which was blocked by Phil Jagielk a.

Tevez also headed over but it was not until just after the hour that City seriously threatened again as Maicon burst down the field and forced Howard to parry a powerful 18-yard drive.

The game became scrappy as Everton's hard-working defence did their best to repel City's threat, then the Toffees went close in injury time from a Jelavic free-kick but Hart saved and the ball squirmed wide.

Boos

City had earlier decided to freshen up their attack by sending on Sergio Aguero, but the crowd were not happy that it was Tevez he replaced and boos rang around the ground.

Mario Balotelli had also entered the action for the last 10 minutes in place of Dzeko and did inject a bit of energy into the side but could not find the end result.

The result preserved City's prolonged run of home games without defeat to 37, a sequence stretching back to a loss to Everton two years ago.

It was also Everton's seventh draw in their last n ine games.

50.1

Manchester City	Team Statistics	Everton
1	Goals	1
1	1st Half Goals	1
5	Shots on Target	4
2	Shots off Target	3
3	Blocked Shots	2
5	Corners	2
18	Fouls	12
1	Offsides	0
2	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
84.2	Passing Success	79.4
14	Tackles	12
85.7	Tackles Success	66.7
59.2	Possession	40.8
52.7	Territorial Advantage	47.3
545	Total Passes	379
32	Total Crosses	18
155	Lost Balls	143
56	Recoveries	14
1st Half Poss.	49.9
68.3	2nd Half Poss.	31.7