Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted that the Premier League is out of his team’s hands after a 3-3 draw against Everton on Monday. City are now five points away from table-toppers Arsenal but have one more game in hand.
The Cityzens were trailing by 3-1 however Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku scored in the 83rd and 97th minute to help their team salvage a draw and share a point with the home team.
“It depends. [The title] is not in our hands. Before that game it was, and Arsenal’s as well. But now, in our hands, no,” Guardiola said.
“We have four games in the Premier League, next is Brentford, and it will be quite similar because the competitors are good, and we will see what happens,” Guardiola said. “Of course, [we go into those games with belief], like we came here.”
The Spaniard coach praised his team’s first-half performance against Everton but admitted they were not at their best in the second half.
“Really good performance. We played an outstanding first half. It was so difficult with their physicality,” Guardiola said on Sky Sports. “Second half, maybe we were not as much in control, and after we gave away the goal, they came back and made a proper English game, so aggressive in the duels. But in general, we made a really good performance.”
The City boss added: “It is better than losing, [but of course, it is] better to win, and we played for that. It just shows what the team are.”
On the other hand, Everton manager David Moyes said at halftime he felt his players had some moments of poor defending, particularly during Haaland’s goal.
“But at halftime, we would have taken this result because we were hugely outplayed in the first half,” Moyes said. “I wanted us to get more contact, closer to Manchester City. We couldn’t get near them. They played really well, as well.
“But we weren’t anywhere near what we’ve done. It was probably the poorest we’ve played here, certainly against the better teams this season.
“So, the players made a great effort to get us in the game, and when we got to 3-1, we should be doing enough to see it out, but we didn’t do it.
“Getting a point against City is not a bad result, but when you’re 3-1 up, you think you’re in with a great chance of winning.”
City will take on Brentford at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
