Guardiola says Premier League out of City’s hands after draw

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola praised his team’s determination after it snatched a dramatic 3-3 draw at Everton, but he knows his club faces an uphill battle in the Premier League title race.

City are five points behind Arsenal with a game in hand.

“It depends. [The title] is not in our hands. Before that game it was, and Arsenal’s as well. But now, in our hands, no,” Guardiola said.

City next play Brentford, who are in seventh place and still battling for a spot in European competition next season, at home Saturday before Arsenal travel to face West Ham.

“We have four games in the Premier League, next is Brentford, and it will be quite similar because the competitors are good, and we will see what happens,” Guardiola said. “Of course, [we go into those games with belief], like we came here.”

City appeared to be in control when they entered halftime with a 1-0 lead, thanks to Jeremy Doku’s goal in the 43rd minute.

Everton, though, answered with three goals in 14 minutes as substitute Thierno Barry scored in the 68th minute, Jake O’Brien converted a tiebreaking header in the 73rd minute and Barry upped the lead to 3-1 in 81st minute. Barry’s first goal was the result of a very poor back pass from City defender Marc Guehi.

Erling Haaland cut City’s deficit to 3-2 in the 83rd minute, and Doku curled in a superb stoppage-time equaliser to earn a point.

“Really good performance. We played an outstanding first half. It was so difficult with their physicality,” Guardiola said on Sky Sports. “Second half, maybe we were not as much in control, and after we gave away the goal, they came back and made a proper English game, so aggressive in the duels. But in general, we made a really good performance.”

The City boss added: “It is better than losing, [but of course, it is] better to win, and we played for that. It just shows what the team are.”

Everton boss David Moyes said at halftime he felt his players had some moments of poor defending, particularly during Haaland’s goal.

“But at halftime, we would have taken this result because we were hugely outplayed in the first half,” Moyes said. “I wanted us to get more contact, closer to Manchester City. We couldn’t get near them. They played really well, as well.

“But we weren’t anywhere near what we’ve done. It was probably the poorest we’ve played here, certainly against the better teams this season.

“So, the players made a great effort to get us in the game, and when we got to 3-1, we should be doing enough to see it out, but we didn’t do it.

“Getting a point against City is not a bad result, but when you’re 3-1 up, you think you’re in with a great chance of winning.”

Information from PA was used in this report.