Two weeks after a 1-0 loss at Liverpool, City had more misery on Merseyside following goals by Romelu Lukaku, Kevin Mirallas, 18-year-old midfielder Tom Davies and 19-year-old debutant Ademola Lookman.

City have now lost three of their past four matches away, with the latest setback for Guardiola coming at the hands of a team managed by his former Barcelona teammate, Ronald Koeman. The team had dropped out of the top four – into fifth place – following wins for Tottenham and Arsenal, and are now 10 points behind first-placed Chelsea.

“It is awful for my players,” Guardiola said.

“I said to the players ‘be positive’ because they have made fantastic things in this season.”

The title is looking out of reach for City now, though, just when things appeared to be looking up after a 5-0 win at West Ham in the FA Cup last week.

It was another poor defensive display, summed up in injury time when John Stones – a former Everton player – tried to clear the ball for a throw-in only to see it ricochet off Everton defender Seamus Coleman to set up Lookman. Signed from Charlton this month and on as a late substitute for his Everton debut, Lookman completed City’s misery by shooting through Bravo’s legs.

“Pep Guardiola knows it is a project at Manchester City,” Koeman said.

“Of course, maybe they expected better results and a defeat like this is really strong but Pep has the experience to turn it around. I don’t doubt it.”

Lukaku sidefooted home a square ball from Mirallas to put Everton ahead in the 34th, with the move sparked by Davies intercepting Gael Clichy’s ball forward from left back.

Starting for a second straight game, Davies was everywhere – even clearing Bacary Sagna’s header off the line just before halftime at Goodison Park.

Ross Barkley slipped in Mirallas to score with an angled shot in the 47th minute before the best goal of the match, when Davies dinked the ball over goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and inside the near post to crown an impressive individual display.

“The consequence of the game is an example of many that has happened this season,” Guardiola said.

“In football, you sometimes don’t need to do many things to score. They arrive once and score a goal. It is not today, it is almost all the season and it is tough for the players to handle that situation.”

Meanwhile, Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalised late for Manchester United to salvage a 1-1 draw against fierce rivals Liverpool in a result that damaged both teams’ Premier League title chances.

Ibrahimovic cancelled out James Milner’s 27th-minute penalty by glancing a header in off the crossbar in the 84th minute at Old Trafford.

Liverpool ended United’s nine-game winning run in all competitions – six of which had come in the league – but dropped seven points behind first-placed Chelsea. Sixth-placed United were 12 points off the leader.

On the day United rolled out advertising hoardings displaying Paul Pogba’s new Twitter emoji, the player himself made a crucial mistake by conceding a penalty while jumping with his back to the ball at a corner.

Milner converted to give Liverpool the lead against the run of play but the visitors created little else in an intense match between English soccer’s two most decorated clubs.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho played down a touchline confrontation between him and Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp: as the teams looked for a late winner at an increasingly tense Old Trafford, the managers squared up to each other but Mourinho reckoned after shaking Klopp’s hand at the end of the game that there was no problem between them.

The incident occurred when United midfielder Ander Herrera pulled the shirt of Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, then fell to the floor holding his face after actually being pushed by the Brazilian in the chest.

Klopp seemed to feel Mourinho was calling for Firmino to be sent off and the German evidently felt Herrera was feigning injury.

The managers then had a heated argument, Klopp getting particularly animated, as the fourth official separated them.

Asked if there had been a problem with Klopp, Mourinho told reporters: “No. He thought I was asking for his player to be sent off. I wasn’t. No problem at all.

“I think the game was correct, I think the players gave everything in an emotional way, professional way. I think the referee (Michael Oliver) managed very well that part of the game.

“So I think the game was great publicity for the Premier League all around the world.”

-AP/Reuters