Hope for Arsenal as Man City stumble in title race with Everton draw
Manchester City were held to a 3-3 draw at Everton on Monday night to dampen their chances of winning the 2025-26 Premier League title.
The Cityzens needed a victory to reduce Arsenal’s six points cushion to three before their game in hand against Crystal Palace.
Jeremy Doku opened the scoring three minutes before halftime with curling left footed effort to give the visitors a 1-0 lead going into the break.
Thierno Barry took advantage of a poor back pass from Marc Guehi to finish past Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 68th minute to make it 1-1.
Everton took the lead thanks to a Jake O’Brien’s towering header from James Garner’s corner in the 73rd minute.
Barry completed his brace with a composed finish to make it 3-1 in the 81st minute.
Erling Haaland pulled one back for Man City in the 81st minute before Jeremy Doku produced another moment of brilliance to make it 3-3 in the 97th minute.
The goal helped Manchester City snatched a point from the jaws of defeat to go five points behind Arsenal with a game in hand.
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Pep Guardiola was pleased with his side’s battling performance to earn a point while admitting that the title race is not in their hands.
He said: “Really good performance. We played outstanding in the first half. Really, really good. Second half, they made a step up and we maybe weren’t as aggressive and after, of course, we gave away the goal. After they came back, they make a proper English game – so aggressive, so, so aggressive in the duels. But in general, we made a really good performance.”
On the first half: “It was more difficult for them to break us down than it was for us to break them down. We were outstanding. We arrived at the byline a lot, shot and had chances and it’s not easy because they play very well defensively, with 10 players behind the ball and then transition with Beto and Dewsbury-Hall. We take the point and until it’s over, we will continue.
On the second half: “In general we were good in our process. We arrived on the left side and Doku was outstanding. Unfortunately we could not capitalise, especially like we did in the first half. Everton away is always difficult.”
Pleased with the fightback? “It’s better than losing, It shows what type of team they are.”
On the title race: “It’s not in our hands. Before it was, now it’s not. We have games left. We will see what happens.”
Everton coach, David Moyes was disappointed with his team’s inability to close out the game despite going 3-1 up.
He said: “We let ourselves down because we defended the second goal so poorly. Look, at half-time we would have taken the result because we were hugely outplayed in the first half.
“I wanted us to get a little bit closer to City. We couldn’t get near them and to be fair, they played really well as well, I have to give them huge credit for that.
“It was probably the poorest we have played here, certainly against the better teams this season. The players made a great effort to get us in the game and really when we got to 3-1 we should be doing enough to see it out.”
Man City will be back in Premier League action against Brentford on Saturday at the Etihad while Everton will take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
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Top Stats From Everton vs Man City
12 – Manchester City have dropped the joint-most points from winning positions in the Premier League since the turn of the year (12 – level with Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United).
2012 – Manchester City avoided defeat in a Premier League game despite trailing by 2+ goals as late as the 82nd minute for the first time since March 2012 against Sunderland (3-3).
3 – Jérémy Doku’s equaliser (96:49) was Man City’s third-latest goal on record (since 2006-07) in a Premier League game after John Stones’ strike against Arsenal in September 2024 (97:14) and Gabriel Jesus’ goal against Everton in February 2019 (96:52).
10 – Rayan Cherki is the first Premier League player to reach 10 open play assists in their debut season in the competition since Eden Hazard in 2012-13 (11).
