05/04/26 04:29:00
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05/04 16:27 CDT Man City's last-gasp draw at Everton hands Premier League
momentum to Arsenal
Man City's last-gasp draw at Everton hands Premier League momentum to Arsenal
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) --- Jrmy Doku scored a last-gasp equalizer for
Manchester City to snatch a 3-3 draw at Everton and throw the Premier League
title momentum back to leader Arsenal on Monday.
The draw ended a run of three consecutive wins for City and left it five points
behind the London club.
City has a game in hand but the loss at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium meant
the title was now Arsenal's to lose. The Gunners have three games to play.
City has four and knew it needed a win to keep the pressure on Mikel Arteta's
side. But although City dominated possession in the first half it struggled to
create real chances and it wasn't until the 42nd minute that Doku found space
in a crowded penalty box to curl in a peach of a strike and break the deadlock.
Everton, though, came out a different side in the second half and struck three
times in 13 minutes.
City defender Marc Guhi's short back pass was intercepted by substitute
Thierno Barry, who slipped it past an incredulous Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Five minutes later, the City defense was all at sea again as Jake O'Brien rose
at the near post to glance home a corner from James Garner.
Barry made it 3-1 in the 81st when a shot deflected into his path, giving him
the simplest of finishes.
But just as City fans were beginning to stream out of the stadium, many
returned when Erling Haaland stormed forward and clipped his 25th goal of the
season over Jordan Pickford.
City threw everything forward and in the seventh minute of stoppage time Doku
curled in a sublime strike with almost the last kick of the match.
It was a killer blow to Everton, which is still hopeful of securing a European
place. A win would have lifted it within two points of seventh but instead it
was 10th, tied on points with Fulham and Chelsea.
Forest beats Chelsea
Earlier, Chelsea slumped to a sixth straight Premier League defeat and saw its
Champions League qualification hopes virtually disappear after losing to
Nottingham Forest 3-1.
Taiwo Awoniyi scored two either side of earning a penalty converted by fellow
striker Igor Jesus, inspiring a heavily rotated Forest to the brink of safety.
Forest was six points above the relegation zone with three rounds left.
Joao Pedro's overhead kick in second-half stoppage time ended Chelsea's
scoreless run in the league stretching back almost two months but proved to be
only a consolation.
On a humiliating day for the London club and interim coach Calum McFarlane,
Cole Palmer had a penalty saved in a 14-minute period of first-half stoppage
time --- required after 18-year-old Chelsea winger Jesse Derry, making his
first Premier League start, needed lengthy treatment following a clash of heads
with Forest's Zach Abbott at a corner.
Both had to leave the field, Derry on a stretcher as Stamford Bridge fell quiet
and his teammates looked concerned.
Reaching the FA Cup final last week has failed to rouse Chelsea's players, who
were booed by their own fans at halftime and fulltime, amid their dreadful run
of form in the league that has plunged the team to ninth place and out of
contention for a top-five finish.
Sixth place could yet earn qualification for the Champions League, but only in
the specific scenario of Aston Villa --- currently in fifth place --- finishing
in that position and also winning the Europa League. Chelsea is four points
behind sixth-placed Bournemouth.
Villa is 1-0 down to Forest after the first leg of Europa League semifinals.
The second leg is at Villa Park on Thursday, prompting Forest manager Vitor
Pereira to field virtually a second-choice lineup that still had too much for
Chelsea.
In-form playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White was one of Forest's top players starting
on the bench. He came on, set up Awoniyi for the third goal in the 52nd minute,
and then was forced off with a bandage around his head after a clash of heads
with Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, who also had to be substituted.
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