Pep Guardiola and Jeremy Doku react to 'painful' Manchester City implosion at Everton as Arsenal handed Premier League title advantage

Doku provided late heroics at Hill Dickinson Stadium as he curled home a spectacular finish for the second time in the match, seven minutes into stoppage-time.

It salvaged a point for title-chasing City, who were 3-1 down with nine minutes to go on Merseyside, but despite their late surge, dropping two points could prove costly in the title race.

Guardiola's side are now five points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, relying on the leaders to drop points in their final three matches of the season, with West Ham United, Burnley and Crystal Palace comprising the Gunners' run-in towards a first title since 2004.

If Arsenal win all three games they are guaranteed to be champions.

Speaking after the match, Guardiola praised his side's performance, but admitted City had surrendered control of how the remainder of the season will play out.

"Really good performance," Guardiola told Sky Sports. "We played an outstanding first half. It was so difficult with their physicality.

"Second half, they made a step up. We didn't have as much control and we gave away the goal. After that, they come back and make a proper English game, so aggressive in the duels. But in general, we made a really good performance."

He added: "It's better than a loss. We played to win. It just shows what the team are. We tried and we have done it.

"It's not in our hands. Before, it was in our hands. Now, no. 

"We have to do it in our four games that we have in the Premier League. It will be quite similar against Brentford. We will see what happens."

Doku opened the scoring for City with a wonderful left-footed curling finish to open the scoring shortly before the break.

That remained the only goal until a frantic final quarter of the match which saw Everton take the lead on 68 minutes, Thierno Barry pouncing on a slack back pass by Marc Guehi to slot past Gianluigi Donnarumma, before Jake O'Brien fired the hosts into a lead and Barry netted again to establish a two-goal cushion.

Erling Haaland hit back almost immediately to cut into the deficit, and with almost the final kick of the match, Doku delightfully curled home to level, which could well prove to be more of a blow to Everton's hopes of qualifying for Europe than it did boost City's title chances.

Doku, who has now recorded four goals and two assists in his last five appearances, pledged that City would keep fighting until the end, despite the "painful" outcome on Monday.

"It feels painful now," he told Sky Sports. "There are still a lot of games to go. We lost two points today. We will keep on fighting - we owe it to ourselves and to our fans."

Doku echoed Guardiola's comments about Everton's aggression, and lamented "sloppy" elements of City's game which allowed the hosts back into the match.

"Difficult because they had players in the box. Whenever we arrive at the byline, it is difficult because there are a lot of players there. We scored, then it was more open. Second half, we were too sloppy.

"I think we were winning, so they started to press more, and they are more aggressive as well, and then it's on us to stay calm in those situations.

"We know that one point can be important at the end. Happy to score and happy to help the team."

Despite their ultimately damning evening, City remain in contention for a domestic treble - as they face Chelsea in the FA Cup final on May 16 - live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

Guardiola's side will look to keep up the pressure on Arsenal, who have shown signs of fallibility in the title race thus far, but must navigate some tricky final fixtures, which include Europe-chasing Brentford and fifth-placed Aston Villa.

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