Everton 3-3 Manchester City: Dazzling Doku salvages a point in six-goal thriller

Jeremy Doku rescued Manchester City but the Premier League title race took another twist as Pep Guardiola's team drew 3-3 with Everton.

Doku scored with almost the final kick of a thrilling contest at Hill Dickinson Stadium, where Everton seemed to have completed a remarkable turnaround.

City dominated the first half, albeit Gianluigi Donnarumma had to parry away a threatening cross from the impressive Merlin Rohl.

The pressure told in the 43rd minute, though, when Doku curled in an exquisite finish from the edge of the box.

Yet in a chaotic 13-minute spell in the second half, Everton surged into the lead.

Iliman Ndiaye squandered a golden chance but, moments later, substitute Thierno Barry capitalised on a dreadful error from Marc Guehi to restore parity.

Jake O'Brien then headed Everton into the lead and the Toffees were in dreamland when Barry nonchalantly nudged in from Rohl's scuffed shot.

However, terrible Everton defending enabled Erling Haaland to reduce the arrears immediately from the restart, setting the stage for Doku to curl in at the death, albeit the Toffees were furious that they had not earlier been awarded a penalty when Bernardo Silva grabbed Rohl at a corner.

Data Debrief: Late show keeps City alive

This was still a great result for Arsenal, who are five points clear at the top. Even though City have a game in hand, they must stay perfect and rely on Arsenal to slip up if they are to win the title.

Doku's equaliser (96:49) was City's third-latest goal on record (since 2006-07) in a Premier League game after John Stones' strike against Arsenal in September 2024 (97:14) and Gabriel Jesus' goal against Everton in February 2019 (96:52).

City avoided defeat in a Premier League game despite trailing by 2+ goals as late as the 82nd minute for the first time since March 2012 against Sunderland (3-3).

However, City have dropped the joint-most points from winning positions in the Premier League since the turn of the year (12 – level with Tottenham and Newcastle United).

Doku and Barry were ultimately the main men. 

Barry became just the third substitute to score a Premier League brace against Guardiola's City side after Anthony Martial (October 2022) and Samuel Chukwueze (December 2025), while Doku has had a hand in six goals across his last five games in all competitions, as many as in his previous 22 games combined.