The meeting between Manchester City and Everton barely had time to start before Erling Haaland fell to the ground after a duel with Ben Godfrey.
The Norwegian was stamped on his right foot, lost his shoe and had a small flight.
Haaland was able to play on, but afterwards was noticeably irritated and grumpy - sometimes over the top.
In the 24th minute, he responded in his usual fashion when he made it 1-0 on a pass from Riyad Mahrez.
Not a perfect strike, but the goal was his 21st of the season - eight more than all of Everton have managed so far.
In celebration, Haaland turned and screamed at Ben Godfrey in a clear provocation.
The attacking star was also cautioned at the end of the half after an attention-grabbing situation.
John Stones first nodded in the post and Haaland went full speed in pursuit of the ball which ended up on the edge of Vitalij Mykolenko.
Haaland threw himself violently into the situation and got away with a yellow card for rough play, then he gestured towards the crowd in the stands.
- He has lost the concept during this half.
If I were Guardiola, I would have had a long talk with him here at half-time, says Viaplay's expert Glenn Strömberg after the first 45.
Everton grabbed a point after Demarai Gray thumped the ball into the crossbar to make it 1-1 in the 64th minute with a skilful individual performance.
Despite enormous City pressure at the end, the visitors managed to resist and snatch a point from second in the table.
Erling Haaland leads the Premier League goalscoring league in superior style with 21 goals, eight ahead of second-placed Harry Kane, Tottenham, with 13 strikes.