Pep Guardiola issues frank title race verdict after Man City draw hands Arsenal huge advantage

Pep Guardiola admitted control of the title race is no longer in Manchester City ’s hands after they were held to a surprise draw by Everton on Monday night.

City came into the match with two games in hand and trailing Arsenal by six points, but are now five points adrift of the league leaders with just one game in hand after failing to beat the Toffees, who scored three goals in 13 second-half minutes to clinch a well-earned point .

Speaking at full-time, Guardiola acknowledged that City’s margin for error in the title race was now nil and said City are once again relying on an Arsenal slip-up if they are to stand any chance of taking top spot come the end of the campaign.

“We take the point and until it's over, we're going to continue,” he declared to Sky Sports.

“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.”
Jeremy Doku, who scored two of City’s goals on the night including a last-gasp equaliser, added: “It feels painful now.

There is 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.”
Guardiola continued, explaining why he finds Everton such a tricky team to visit.

“Everton away is always difficult and I give credit to them for their composure and aggression.

“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.

It's not easy because they play so well defensively, with 10 players there and transitions with Beto with Dewsbury-Hall.”