PHIL JAGIELKA will miss the FA Cup final. The Everton and England centre-half’s season is over after he was carried from the field yesterday with ligament damage to his knee.

Jagielka, who scored the penalty in the shootout against Manchester United that booked Everton’s place in the final against Chelsea on May 30, twisted his leg awkwardly as he tried to turn. He had lengthy treatment before being taken off on a stretcher.

Everton physio Mick Rathbone said later: “The scan has, unfortunately, confirmed what we already feared — Phil will be out for the rest of the season. He has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and will undergo surgery in around 10 days’ time when the swelling has gone down. It’s too early to estimate a return to action.”

A tired-looking Everton seemed beaten even before they went down to 10 men for the last third of the game, when Jagielka was hurt after they had already made their three substitutions.

With the sun shining again, Robinho came out to play, producing a brilliantly taken goal and an equally dazzling assist to provide Manchester City with a huge boost in their attempt to retain a place in Europe next season — which would be extraordinary, considering that, before yesterday, they hadn’t won away from home since August.

Robinho stayed on his feet all afternoon, was committed in the tackle and never stopped running — qualities we should expect from a professional footballer, but which have been lacking on many occasions when the £32.5m Brazilian has taken the field, particularly away from home.

Equally effective in the dismantling of Everton was Stephen Ireland, a product of City’s academy who scored his 13th goal of the season. It will be a serious injustice if he fails to win the PFA’s young player of the year award tonight.

“Robinho’s had criticism in regard to his performances away from home, and it has been unfair on occasions and maybe justified on others,” said his manager, Mark Hughes, “but he was outstanding today.”

Everton’s manager, David Moyes, had gained an excellent result at Chelsea in midweek after resting several players but when he tried the same trick again here, it didn’t come off. Tim Cahill was left on the bench, though the pace and power of Joleon Lescott were more acutely missed as Robinho started to grandstand on the right of midfield.

In response, the Everton defence looked unusually shaky. On 35 minutes it fell apart. The ball was hoofed out of the City penalty area and should have quickly been returned there, but Joseph Yobo’s poor header landed at the feet of the advancing Elano. With Yobo out of position, Elano produced a beautifully weighted pass into the path of Robinho, who darted into the area, twisting Jagielka this way and that before slamming the ball under Tim Howard’s body. For his celebration he pretended to polish Elano’s white boots, so happy was he with the pass.

City scored their second on 54 minutes. Everton were pressing when Micah Richards — criticised for alleged attitude problems that culminated in a training-ground row with Hughes — held nothing back when he dived in to block Segundo Castillo’s shot and stayed on the ground, clearly hurt. If his teammates noticed, they pretended not to, as Elano broke down the left wing and fed Robinho.

The Brazilian picked out Ireland approaching the penalty area from the opposite flank. The Irishman trapped the bouncing ball before rolling it past Howard.

It was looking like a stroll for City, so Moyes made a triple substitution on 61 minutes. Two minutes later, Jagielka was injured.

Ireland and Robinho came close to turning the result into a rout but some complacency crept into the City camp. When Dan Gosling’s run into the penalty area went untracked, he was able to belt Steven Pienaar’s cross past Shay Given four minutes into stoppage time, although City were home and dry by then.

Star man: Robinho (Man City)

Yellow cards: Everton: Neville; Manchester City: Onuoha, Elano, Fernandes.

Referee: A Wiley.

Attendance: 37,791.

EVERTON: Howard 6, Hibbert 6, Yobo 5, Jagielka 5, Baines 7, Osman 6, Castillo 6 (Gosling 61min), Neville 6, Pienaar 6, Saha 4 (Vaughan 61min), Fellaini 5 (Cahill, 61min).

MANCHESTER CITY: Given 8, Richards 7 (Fernandes 57min, 6), Dunne 7, Onuoha 7, Bridge 6, Kompany 7, De Jong 7, Elano 7 (Evans 88min), Ireland 8, Robinho 9, Caicedo 6 (Petrov 84min).