It is not in our hands – Pep Guardiola accepts Man City face uphill title battle

After being 1-0 down at half-time, Pep Guardiola said Everton "came back and made a proper English game, so aggressive in the duels"

Manchester City trail Arsenal by five points though Pep Guardiola's team have a game in hand. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.

Manchester City boss 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.

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.

Erling Haaland quickly responded as City battled back before Doku curled in a superb stoppage-time equaliser to earn a point.

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The draw left City five points behind Arsenal and with a game in hand.

“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.” 

City next play Brentford at home on Saturday before Arsenal travel to London rivals West Ham.

“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.

“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.

“Of course (we go into those games with belief), like we came here.” Everton boss David Moyes told Sky Sports: “We let ourselves down because we defended the second goal so poorly. That was probably the main reason for it.

“But at half-time we would have taken this result because we were hugely outplayed in the first half.

“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.