Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted the Premier League title race is out of his hands following their 3-3 draw against Everton on Monday 4 May. City need a last-gasp equalizer from Jeremy Doku to avoid defeat on the night, having had a chance to match Arsenal if they win their clash with Everton and Saturday’s game against Brentford.
It was Doku who put the visitors ahead in the 43rd minute before City succumbed to costly errors in the second half. They gave Everton a chance to get back into the game as a costly mistake by Marc Guehi allowed Thiern Barry to equalise.
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Jack O’Brien then put the home side ahead before Barry grabbed his second of the night. City pulled one back through Erling Haaland before Doku equalized with a thunderous strike to get the City fans back into the stadium after they started to leave early.
Speaking after the match, as quoted by Reuters, Guardiola said he expected City’s remaining four games to be similar to the Everton test.
“It’s not in our hands now, it was before, now it’s not,” Guardiola said.
“The four games we have (left) in the Premier League. They will be quite similar and we will see what happens.”
City are five points adrift of Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand, but will now have to hope Arsenal slip up in their remaining three games, which look easier on paper. The Gunners face relegation-threatened West Ham, already relegated Burnley and Crystal Palace in the final stages.
Guardiola said a point was ultimately better than a loss.
“It’s better than losing,” he said. “We’d rather win. We play for it and we just showed what kind of team we are. We tried everything. The players were aggressive.”
City face Brentford, Palace, Bournemouth and Aston Villa in their last four games and have an FA Cup final with Chelsea before the end of the season.
Doku rallied and refused to throw in the towel just yet, saying they would fight until the end.
“It’s painful now, but there are still a lot of games ahead and anything can happen,” Doku said. “We will keep fighting. We owe it to ourselves and to our fans.”
City face Brentford at home on May 9.
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Published on:
05 May 2026 08:39 IST
