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Beth Lindop
Multiple Authors
LIVERPOOL, England — After months of debate over whether the Premier League title would be won in London or Manchester, the destination of the trophy might just have been decided on Merseyside.
For weeks, Manchester City have looked to be the team in the ascendency. But the pendulum has swung dramatically in Arsenal’s favor after Pep Guardiola’s side played out an enthralling 3-3 draw with Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday. It was a game City looked to have won and then conspired to lose, before Jérémy Doku’s stunning strike in stoppage time salvaged a point that could yet prove decisive when a new champion is crowned in just a few weeks’ time.
Arsenal’s emphatic victory over Fulham at the weekend meant the margin for error was nonexistent for City as they completed the first of their two games in hand. When Doku curled in a sublime opener on the cusp of half-time, Guardiola’s men appeared destined to close the gap from six points to three.
But a second-half capitulation means City are now outsiders to win the league for a seventh time in nine years. Opta gives Arsenal an 85.2% chance of ending their 22-year title drought this term.
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It was only a few weeks ago that a Manchester City supporter went viral for holding up an Arsenal-branded bottle in the away end during his team’s victory at Chelsea, designed to illustrate the Gunners’ proclivity for “bottling” previous title races. However, against Everton, City showed they are not immune to the heightened pressure of the run-in. Guardiola’s side conceded three goals in the space of 13 chaotic second-half minutes that could end up defining their season.
First, City center back Marc Guéhi’s loose pass back to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was intercepted by Everton substitute Thierno Barry, whose goal was awarded following a VAR check. Having made just three errors leading to goals across the first 31 games of the season, it was City’s second such error in three matches.
Defender Jake O’Brien compounded City’s frustrations when he rose the highest to nod home from a James Garner corner, before Merlin Röhl teed up Barry to score Everton’s third. The thousand-yard stares of Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki as the hosts wheeled away in celebration said everything about just how seismic a result this could be.
Guardiola’s side conceded three goals in a half for only the second time this season. They have also now dropped the joint-most points from winning positions in the Premier League since the turn of the year (12, level with Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United).
That Haaland was able to reduce the deficit with a signature dinked finish over Jordan Pickford before Doku’s late stunner means City do, at least, have some hope ahead of their clash with Brentford on Saturday. A win at the Etihad would move them to within two points of Arsenal, who travel to relegation-threatened West Ham United on Sunday.
From an Everton perspective, Doku’s strike was the third injury-time goal they have conceded in the last three games, following previous defeats to Liverpool and West Ham. David Moyes’ side has made the fewest substitutions and used the fewest players of any Premier League team this season, and their propensity for running out of steam late on looks set to prove costly in their pursuit of European qualification.
It is City, though, who are left most disappointed by Monday’s encounter, despite extending their unbeaten run to 12 league games during which they have collected more points (25) than any other side. Guardiola’s players have so often shown themselves to be adept at growing into title races, and while they have done so again this term, a miscued late effort from substitute Phil Foden — who was named PFA Players’ Player of the Year the last time his club won the title in 2023-24 — showed that this is not the infallible City side of old.
“We played outstanding in the first half,” Guardiola told Sky Sports after the game. “Really, really good. Second half, [Everton] made a step up and we maybe weren’t as aggressive and after, of course, we gave away the goal. … We take the point and until it’s over, we will continue.
“It’s not in our hands. Before it was, now it’s not. We have games left. We will see what happens.”
With a Champions League semifinal against Atletico Madrid to come on Tuesday evening, Arsenal now have the power to make this season one for the record books. City, meanwhile, must stay in the hunt and be prepared to capitalize if the Gunners slip up.
Certainly, if Monday night’s dramatic finale is anything to go by, this season’s title race could go right down to the wire.
