Home ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE EPL City’s Control, Everton’s Chaos: A 3-3 Draw That Could Haunt Guardiola’s Title Bid

City’s Control, Everton’s Chaos: A 3-3 Draw That Could Haunt Guardiola’s Title Bid

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Individual errors undo City’s dominance in Wild 3-3 draw at Hill Dickinson

Jeremy Doku’s stunning goals and Erling Haaland’s late strike secured a point for Manchester City after defensive lapses let Everton lead 3-2 in a chaotic Premier League encounter.


City controlled 75% possession but costly mistakes saw them draw 3-3 with Everton, with Haaland and Doku rescuing a point in stoppage time...


Man City had the opportunity on Monday evening to turn up the heat on Arsenal by making use of one of their games in hand against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.


In straightforward terms, if Pep Guardiola’s side win every remaining match of the 2025/26 season, they’ll lift the Premier League trophy once more.


For Arsenal to claim their first title since the 2003/04 Invincibles campaign, they were relying on the Toffees - a former club of Mikel Arteta - to deliver a crucial result.


David Moyes’ Everton still had European qualification on the line heading into the game, meaning there was plenty at stake and little chance of an uneventful late-season fixture.


It was always going to be a tough ask for Everton, given City’s recent dominance - they were unbeaten in the last 17 league meetings and hadn’t lost any of their six away league games in 2025/26.


An Everton victory would have been their first over City in the league since January 2017. In that span they’ve managed just nine goals while conceding 40, including two from Erling Haaland when the sides met earlier this season.


Haaland entered Monday’s match with 24 league goals and remains on pace to win the Premier League Golden Boot again this season.


The game also marked personal milestones for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Bernardo Silva, with Dewsbury-Hall reaching 100 Premier League appearances and Silva hitting 300.




For the first 15 minutes it was easy to mistake City for the home side, with Pep Guardiola’s team controlling an astonishing 87% of possession.


By the time Dewsbury-Hall registered Everton’s first meaningful shot, the hosts had already blocked two attempts each from Nico O’Reilly and Rayan Cherki, plus Haaland’s 117th shot of the season - more than any other player in the league.


Doku’s Spark Lights Up City’s Attack 

Despite City’s clear dominance, they hadn’t turned it into much on the scoresheet, with Jordan Pickford only called into action once in the opening period.




Jeremy Doku was the main threat early on, carving out three chances in the first half, while Cherki led all players with three shots in the first 40 minutes.


Just before halftime, Doku and Cherki linked up for Doku to bend a brilliant left-footed strike into the top corner, quieting the home crowd.


With City unbeaten in their last 25 matches after scoring first, the pressure was on Everton to lift their intensity and go on the front foot.


The hosts offered almost nothing going forward in the first half, with Beto completing only two passes before the break.


Tim Iroegbunam made four tackles - six before he was substituted - the most for Everton, while James Garner won all four of his tackles, a sign of how much Moyes’ side were pinned back.


Everton Capitalize on City Mistake 

Everton came out with more intent in the second half, yet it’s hard to explain how Iliman Ndiaye failed to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma when he had the goal wide open.


Thierno Barry had just replaced Beto when Marc Guehi’s lapse gifted him the ball four minutes later, and Barry calmly slotted home the equalizer.




Five minutes on, Jake O’Brien met an Everton corner with a powerful header for the Toffees’ second - his only touch inside City’s penalty area all evening.


Even with most City players posting pass completion rates above 90%, a straightforward cross into the box was all it took to undo them.


City’s effort couldn’t be questioned - six players contested at least 10 one-on-one duels, and Doku came out on top in 14 of his 19.


There were moments of fluid, eye-catching passing from City, but the reality was they hadn’t had a shot since Silva and O’Reilly’s blocked attempts within four seconds of each other right after the restart.



Chaos in the Closing Stages

With 10 minutes left, Everton seemed set for all three points after Mateo Kovacic failed to halt Merlin Rohl’s run, allowing Rohl’s cross to find Barry for the hosts’ third and the striker’s eighth of the season.


City fans started leaving in frustration, but 10 seconds after the restart they were back in their seats as Haaland delicately chipped home to pull one back for the visitors.


The goal was Haaland’s third in three matches, marking his longest scoring run since he netted in six straight games between August and October.





It reignited City, and in the 97th minute Doku conjured another finish, this time curling a right-footed effort beyond a diving Pickford.


Costly Mistakes Overshadow City’s Control

When Guardiola reviews this match as a potential title-deciding slip-up, he’ll see that City still dominated possession with over 75% across the 90 minutes, completed more than three times as many passes as Everton - 629 to 201 - and held a 90.8% pass completion rate in Everton’s half compared to the hosts’ 52.9%.


For the Catalan, the only takeaway from a draw that feels like a defeat is that individual errors at crucial moments proved extremely damaging.


Moyes may not be entirely satisfied either, but Everton remain just three points off Conference League qualification - a competition the Scot won with West Ham in 2023.
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