Beth Lindop
Multiple Authors
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola praised the determination of his side after they snatched a dramatic 3-3 draw at Everton, but knows they face an uphill battle in the Premier League title race.
The draw left City five points behind Arsenal and with a game in hand.
“It depends. It [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 on Saturday before Arsenal travel to London rivals 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 had looked in control when 1-0 up at half-time following Jeremy Doku’s opening goal of a dramatic night.
Everton, though, hit back with three goals in the space of 14 minutes — substitute Thierno Barry scoring a double either side of a Jake O’Brien header. Barry’s first goal came courtesy of a very poor back pass from City defender Marc Guehi.
After going down 3-1, Erling Haaland quickly responded as City battled back before 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 side had let themselves down with some poor defending, particularly on the second City goal by Haaland.
“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 seasons.
“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.
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