Everton Stun Manchester City in 3-3 Thriller

Manchester City walked into this game knowing the equation was simple: win, and the pressure swings back onto Arsenal. Instead, they walked out having coughed up a 3-1 lead to Everton and clawed back a point at the death, leaving the title momentum firmly in north London.

It was wild, frantic, and utterly damaging for City’s aura of control.

Doku lights the fuse

For most of the first half, City prodded and probed without ripping Everton open. Jeremy Doku changed that.

On 43 minutes, the winger finally got his reward. His first attempt to engineer the opener looked like it had gone, quite literally, to ground – he slipped in the area, the chance seemingly gone. But the ball stayed alive. When it came back to him on the edge of the box, Doku reset, steadied himself and drilled a low strike through traffic. City had their lead, and the sense was that normal service would now resume.

It never quite did.

City, so often ruthless from that platform, eased off. The tempo dropped. Everton, who had spent long spells pinned back, began to edge forward, inch by inch.

Barry pounces amid offside chaos

The equaliser arrived with controversy and confusion wrapped into one moment.

Everton were in possession when the ball broke awkwardly and fell to Marc Guehi, with Thierno Barry loitering nearby in what looked an offside position. Guehi turned towards his own goal, trying to roll it back to Gianluigi Donnarumma. He never got the chance. Barry read it, exploded onto the loose ball and stabbed it in from close range.

The flag went up. The referee initially chalked it off, the stadium working on the assumption that Barry’s starting position had killed the move. But the replay told a different story. Once Guehi had clearly taken control of the ball, Barry was judged to be back in play. VAR agreed. Goal given.

That decision changed the mood completely. Everton weren’t just level; they suddenly believed.

Everton flip the script

City, rattled, never quite reset. Everton sensed hesitation and went for the throat.

From a corner in the 73rd minute, Jake O'Brien rose and buried his header, turning the game on its head. A set piece, a simple delivery, and City’s marking evaporated. The away end erupted; the champions looked stunned.

Then came the moment that turned a surprise into a potential shock.

With City stretched and chasing, substitute Mateo Kovacic dived into a tackle he never made. Everton broke through the gap, surged forward and Barry, brimming with confidence, finished off the move to claim his brace in the 81st minute. From 1-0 down to 3-1 up, Everton had ripped the script to shreds.

The champions were staring at a defeat that would have sent a roar all the way down to north London.

Haaland finally appears

Erling Haaland had been a ghost for most of the night. Two touches in the box. One shot. Another quiet entry in a season that has seen his dominance questioned more than once.

Then, straight from the restart after Barry’s second, he finally arrived.

City moved the ball quickly, Kovacic involved again, and this time the combination worked. Haaland found the space he had been denied all evening and finished, dragging City back to 3-2 almost instantly. It was an unlikely source only in the sense that he had been so anonymous until that moment.

The goal injected life back into a team that had looked shell-shocked. Time was short, but not gone.

Doku rescues a point – but is it enough?

Everton dropped deeper, clinging to what would have been a famous win. City threw bodies forward. Even Donnarumma came up for a late corner as chaos reigned in the box.

The ball broke loose again to a now-familiar spot: the edge of the penalty area, Doku territory. Just as he had in the first half, the Belgian steadied himself and unleashed another crisp strike. Last kick of the game, last chance of the night, and he buried it.

3-3. City rescued, but not redeemed.

The draw keeps them in the race but hands Arsenal the advantage they had let slip in recent weeks. Arsenal now sit five points clear, having played one game more, back in control of a title charge that has swung like a pendulum.

The table is brutal in its simplicity:

• Arsenal: 35 games, 76 points, +41 goal difference
• Manchester City: 34 games, 71 points, +37 goal difference

Arsenal’s run-in — West Ham United, Burnley, Crystal Palace, all away — is no formality, but they hold the cards again. City still have a game in hand, still have the pedigree, still have the muscle memory of finishing seasons with a sprint.

But nights like this, when control slips and chaos takes over, are how titles are lost.

Will this be the match they look back on as the moment the crown slid away?