Everton defender Ben Godfrey has suggested that Erling Haaland was 'upset' during the Toffees' clash with Manchester City, but praised the Norwegian striker for his strong individual performance.
Pep Guardiola's side drew 1-1 with Everton at the Etihad Stadium on New Year's Eve - giving Arsenal the chance to extend their lead over the Blues in the Premier League title race. Haaland opened the scoring for the home side, but Demarai Gray's stunning strike in the second period earned Frank Lampard's side a point.
Haaland, who scored the most goals before the turn of the year in the Premier League, was frustrated with Everton's approach to defending against him throughout the clash. The 22-year-old was booked himself in the second-half for a late challenge on Vitalii Mykolenko - but former referee Peter Walton suggested he was 'lucky' to remain on the pitch.
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Godfrey made just his third Premier League appearance of the season against City, with the 24-year-old defender having been sidelined with a fibula fracture. He and Haaland enjoyed a competitive battle with each other throughout the match, and clashed on a few occasions.
"Massive. I think we showed our character today," Godfrey told Sky Sports. "We've always had a team spirit. That's the standard. Work rate and togetherness. It feels good to get a point.
"It's always going to be tough. I don't need to tell you Erling Haaland's a good player. I just had to do my job. Yeah of course he was [upset]. You could see his reaction. He got his goal and is always causing people problems and it's those challenges you have to look forward to.
"You come here and give yourself a chance to score and we did that. I've seen [Demarai Gray] do that day in, day out in training. It's nothing less than he deserved.
"To be 1-0 down at half-time it's easy to let that get to you but we knew we would get a chance. We'll take the point. The Boxing Day result was upsetting.
"To concede so late on was never nice. That highlights our character to have such a disappointing result then come to a place like City and get a result."
Everton boss Lampard also lauded City's No.9, while insisting that he enjoyed the duel between him and Godfrey throughout the match.
"Two physical lads. Erling Haaland, what a player, to see him in the flesh, he's a special player. I like that side of it with Ben Godfrey," he told Premier League Productions. "We have two home games in the league and we need to go and get some points but we have to fight for every bit of it."
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