Manchester City needed a late rescue at Everton on Monday and got it from Jérémy Doku, whose equalizer secured a 3-3 draw after the visitors had twice lost control of the match. Doku scored in the 42nd minute, Everton answered through Thierno Barry in the 68th, and the game turned again when Jake O'Brien made it 2-1 in the 74th before Barry struck once more in the 81st to put the hosts 3-1 ahead.
Erling Haaland cut the gap immediately after Everton went two goals clear, and City kept pushing until Doku found the equalizer late in the match. The point leaves Manchester City five points behind Arsenal, with Arsenal holding one match in hand, a gap that sharpens the pressure on City in the title race. City now need to win every match to keep pace with Arsenal and stay in the contest for the championship.
Everton will take more from the result than most teams would from a draw of this kind. They are 10th in the league table, and for long stretches they looked capable of beating one of the division's biggest sides before City clawed back twice in the closing stages.
The tension in the result is obvious: Manchester City got the goal they needed to avoid a damaging defeat, but they also dropped two points in a race where they could ill afford to slip. That is the cost of a night when they scored first, fell behind, and still had to rely on another late recovery to limit the damage.
For City, the story now moves from one point won to the far bigger problem the table leaves them. Arsenal remain in front, hold a game in hand, and City no longer control the rhythm of the title chase.