The 2024-25 Premier League title race took a dramatic turn on Monday, as a chaotic 3-3 draw between Everton and defending champion Manchester City has left the destiny of the crown firmly in Arsenal’s hands. Jeremy Doku’s stoppage-time equalizer rescued a point for Pep Guardiola’s side at Goodison Park (branded the Hill Dickinson Stadium for sponsorship purposes), but a disastrous second-half defensive collapse left City unable to claim all three points that would have kept their title bid on track.
Arsenal, led by manager Mikel Arteta, now hold a five-point advantage at the top of the table, with just three games remaining in the regular season. If the Gunners win all three of their remaining fixtures, they will end a 20-year trophy drought to claim their first Premier League title since 2002. City remain five points behind with a game in hand, but their messy performance against Everton has cast major doubt over their ability to claw back the deficit and secure a seventh league title in nine seasons.
City entered the fixture under intense pressure, having watched Arsenal notch back-to-back wins while City took a two-week break from league action. Guardiola heavily rotated his squad for the FA Cup semi-final against Southampton the previous weekend, but his first team looked sharp rather than rusty in the opening 45 minutes. The Sky Blues pinned Everton deep inside their own half for nearly the entire first half, creating multiple chances before breaking the deadlock two minutes before the interval. Rayan Cherki threaded a pass through to Doku, who curled a clinical shot into the top right corner past Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
The first half also brought a controversial moment that would shape the final result: Everton defender Michael Keane escaped a red card after a wild, lunging tackle on Doku, receiving only a yellow card from the match official.
That let-off proved pivotal as City produced a string of basic defensive errors in the second half that Everton ruthlessly punished. Before the first Everton goal, the hosts already wasted two clear chances: City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma parried an effort from Iliman Ndiaye back into the danger zone, but the rebound went unconverted, and Ndiaye missed another opening after a mistake from Matheus Nunes.
City’s defensive lapses quickly handed Everton the lead. First, a badly underhit backpass from Marc Guehi left striker Thierno Barry one-on-one with Donnarumma, and Barry slotted home the equalizer with ease. Minutes later, another mistake put Everton ahead: Abdukodir Khusanov was caught in possession by Ndiaye, and while Guehi made a last-ditch intervention to stop the chance, the resulting corner found defender Jake O’Brien, who rose above the City defense to head home Everton’s second. A rapid Everton counter-attack soon produced a third, as Barry poked home a deflected cross from Merlin Rohl to put the Toffees 3-1 up, leaving Guardiola’s side completely disjointed at the back.
But City immediately struck back to pull one back: straight from the kickoff, Mateo Kovacic played a through ball to Erling Haaland, who finished to cut the deficit to 3-2. Then, deep into seven minutes of stoppage time, Doku produced a sensational long-range strike to level the score at 3-3, shattering Everton’s hopes of a famous upset win that would have boosted their own European qualification bid.
After the match, Guardiola acknowledged that City no longer control their own title destiny. “It’s better than losing. It shows what type of team they are,” he said of his side’s late fightback. “It’s not in our hands. Before it was, now it’s not. We have games left. We will see what happens.”
Arsenal’s remaining fixture list sees them travel to relegation-battling West Ham United this coming Sunday, before hosting already-relegated Burnley and concluding the season with an away trip to Crystal Palace.