LONDON — Pep Guardiola promised his Manchester City side will keep fighting in the English Premier League title race against Arsenal after dropping two critical points in a dramatic 3-3 draw at Everton.
Jeremy Doku gave City a first-half lead, but Everton stunned the Carabao Cup winners with three goals in 14 minutes, substitute Thierno Barry scoring a double either side of a Jake O’Brien header as the hosts capitalised on uncharacteristic errors from the visitors.
But after Erling Haaland quickly pulled one back, Doku curled in an outstanding strike with virtually the last kick of the game to give City a point at least. They are five behind Arsenal but still have a game in hand.
“We need to win our games,” Guardiola said according to PA Media. “Now it is not in our hands.
“If they win their games the title will be for Arsenal. Now have to win our next game, we have to recover well for a series of games, and this is what we have to do.”
City chose a terrible time to end an eight-match winning run away to Everton, but Doku’s late intervention could prove pivotal.
Where a defeat would have felt terminal in the title race, a point means Arsenal must win their remaining three fixtures to be certain of being crowned champions if City can take maximum points from their own games.
“It’s better the point than no point, but it (would be) better to win the game that we needed,” Guardiola said.
“I know it was in our hands and in Arsenal’s hands as well, it depended on goal (difference). Now it’s not, but we have a responsibility. We play Brentford on Saturday and we continue and we will see what happens.
“Better effort cannot be possible. The message is the same as the day before. We have four games left and a final – win the games. That is the message. We play for that, even with difficulties for many reasons.”
While the focus was inevitably on the points dropped by City, this draw could be hugely damaging to Everton too, leaving them four points rather than two adrift of sixth-placed Bournemouth.
“It will be tough for us to make Europe I think at the moment,” Moyes said. “Three points tonight might have made me start feeling a bit healthier about it.
“Getting one keeps me still dreaming there’s a chance, but I’ve talked too much about it all season so I’m fed up talking about it now.”
It was the third consecutive game in which Everton have conceded a result-changing goal in stoppage time after back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and West Ham.
“That was disappointing, but it was a brilliant finish by Doku, you have to give him credit for that,” Moyes added.
“It was a much better performance in the second half. It was probably the worst we have played in the first half against any of the top teams, but that could easily have been down to the quality and the levels of Manchester City.”
