Pep Guardiola's telling response as title race takes new twist after Man City implosion

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Gianluigi Donnarumma raged at his defenders but Pep Guardiola simply walked to his seat, sat down, took on some water and stared into the night.

When substitute Thierno Barry side footed home his second goal of a remarkable night, the Manchester City manager knew the game was up. And he knew the Premier League title game was almost certainly up.

His Manchester City side had been in complete control but, for some reason, lost the plot.

Even though Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku scored twice to pull off a dramatic draw - the Belgian’s equaliser coming the last seconds of added time - the draw now makes Arsenal hot favourites for the Premier League title.

City dominated early on but David Moyes ’ defensive tactics frustrated City, who were surprisingly short of ingenuity when it came to trying to plot a way through the defensive congestion.

And almost predictably, the first clear chance - fully half an hour into proceedings - fell to Everton on the counter-attack but Gianluigi Donnarumma got a vital touch to take a tap-in away from Beto.

The home side showing a shred of ambition was probably what Pep Guardiola wanted and with the odd space opening up, City began to look a little more threatening.

But the breakthrough owed everything to individual brilliance. Doku had been the most creative player on the pitch by some distance, a status he confirmed with a peach of a left-footed finish from just inside the penalty area.

After his goal in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, Doku promised to be more single-minded in terms of attempts on goal. It certainly paid dividends and soon after, Doku was at the centre of an incident that should have given City a personnel advantage.

Michael Keane wiped out the Belgian when he threatened to dart clear but Michael Oliver produced only a yellow card. The VAR, Paul Howard, had a look but there seems to be a high threshold for intervening when Oliver is in charge. Keane was very lucky to stay on the field.

It is fair to say Oliver won few plaudits from either set of fans but the home support’s sense of injustice seems to give Everton a greater sense of urgency in the second half.

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And that greater sense if urgency contrasted with a City approach that became just a little but casual, one loose pass from Marc Guehil allowing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall a sight of goal but his effort was watched over the bar by Donnarumma.

Guardiola, though, was getting increasingly agitated. You know he is furious when he sits down. He takes the angriest swig of water imaginable.

What particularly alarmed him was an obvious lack of attacking urgency. On one occasion, Erling Haaland made a promising break from inside his own half but the lack of support was startling. Doku eventually joined him but the move fizzled out.

City had lost all momentum and only a strong hand from Donnarumma stopped Iliman Ndiaye from equalising just before the hour mark. Donnarumma again denied Ndiaye a few moments later but Everton’s leveller was inevitable, if a touch bizarre.

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The assistant referee had flagged for offside against Thierno Barry but Marc Guehi carried on playing and rolled the ball to the Everton striker who side footed home.

After Oliver consulted his assistant, he gave the goal to send the home support - and Arsenal fans - into raptures.

And those raptures doubled when Jake O'Brien rose above a shell-shocked City defence to head Everton into the lead with barely a quarter of an hour to go.

It was a remarkable moment in the title race.

City picked themselves up off the canvas to earn a point, with the equaliser coming with one of the final kicks, but make no mistake...it's now firmly, advantage Arsenal.

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