Manchester City 2-2 Nottingham Forest

Semenyo 31'                             Gibbs-White 56'

Rodri 62'                                    Anderson 76'

When in desperate need of points, the Etihad is not the place you want to be travelling to. On their three previous visits since promotion, Forest have lost 11-0 on aggregate. They have also failed to score there in 17 years. But you never know what can happen in football…

Forest are winless in five in the league, form that sees them sit in 17^th, two points above the drop zone. Their most recent outing saw them lose 2-1 at the AMEX last Sunday. The Reds looked better when they went to a three at the back against Brighton so this, and the fact they would need more defensive stability, may be the reason for Pereira’s two changes. Dominguez and Cunha came in for Hudson-Odoi and Hutchinson. Man City are the complete opposite; they are five points behind leaders Arsenal but they do have a game in hand and the two sides still have to face each other. They have won their last four, most recently beating Leeds 1-0 at Elland Road. Guardiola also made two changes: Haaland for Marmoush and Foden for O’Reilly.

The game started off slow. It was clear from the beginning the hosts were doing to be the dominant side but Forest stayed in their shape and made it hard for them to break them down. City would need to show some patience. Sels wasn’t really called into action as much as he may have thought as the only saves he had to make were routine ones. There was one slight scare for Forest when Semenyo latched onto the ball in the left of the box but the angle was too tight and his shot rippled the side netting. Forest showed that they weren’t fully out of it, getting forward on the counter a few times, looking dangerous. They did have a good chance through Gibbs-White from a three on two, but his effort that he looked to bend into the bottom right corner, didn’t have enough curl or power on it and it went straight into the hands of the City ‘keeper.

City were beginning to grow frustrated by this resilient Forest defending but on the half hour mark, they found a crucial breakthrough. Gibbs-White didn’t close the run of Guehi, allowing him to get forward and create an overload. He finally decided to pass to Cherki to the right of him when Anderson came out to close him down. Cherki broke into the right of the box before lofting the ball into the six yard box. There waiting was an unmarked Semenyo who with lovely technique found the net. He lifted up his right knee and side footed the ball on the volley. City are yet to lose this season when going ahead at the Etihad whilst Forest have only one won of their ten outings on the road in which they’ve gone behind.

Forest looked to equalise instantly through Jesus as he cut onto his right foot and flashed a strike towards Donnarumma’s near post but he got down quickly to make the stop. It was important the Reds didn’t concede again before the break and they didn’t. They did have to survive Semenyo flashing a ball across the face of goal but luckily for the visitors no one was close enough to poke it home.

The second half started as the first ended with City in complete control. They almost doubled their lead but Sels pulled off a brilliant save. Bernado Silva drove down the right, getting to the byline. Williams and Anderson met him but the Portuguese squeezed past them both and took on the shot. It was from a tight angle but Sels needed to get fingertips to it or it was nestling in the bottom left corner.

Almost out of nothing, Forest found themselves level. They quickly broke on the counter, Aina driving into space down the right and getting beyond Ait-Nouri. He broke into the box and put a cross into the danger area where teammates Jesus and Gibbs-White were waiting. It looked like he had slightly over hit it but Jesus recycled, heading down for Gibbs-White. He had his back towards goal and Ruben Dias was right behind him closely marking him. His only option was to backheel it and he went for it. He crossed his right leg over his left to make the contact and it rolled through Dias’ legs, leaving Donnarumma stunned and rolling past him too. Pure instinct and quality had drawn Forest level. That’s Gibbs-White’s eight goal of the season, his most ever in a single campaign in the Premier League.

Just minutes after getting themselves an equaliser, Forest were pegged back again. Ait-Nouri whipped in a corner from the right and it was met by an unmarked Rodri who headed down and past Sels from just three yards out. Things got from bad to worse for the Reds as West Ham took the lead against Fulham. This meant Forest dropped into the relegation zone. This goal calmed City down and they regained a foothold on the game.

The drama was far from over though. Anderson received the ball from Gibbs-White before finding Hudson-Odoi. The two played a one two as Anderson easily ran past Foden. The midfielder took a few touches to set himself up before firing from 20 yards. He curled the ball round Guehi to perfectly slot it into the bottom right corner.

The nerves in the away end could be felt. City pushed for a goal in the final 15 minutes of normal time but Forest stayed compact and hard to break down. As we entered stoppage time, Vitor Pereira turned to his bench, bringing on Yates and Morato, to hold onto this point. It was nearly more than a point! Anderson’s corner from the right was headed just wide at the near post by Yates.

There was still more chaos unfolding as we neared the end of stoppage time. Yates gave away a cheap free kick from 25 yards out. Semenyo was the one who took it but his effort whistled just over the crossbar. Sels managed to get a fingertip to it, otherwise it would’ve crashed off the crossbar. Forest thought they had managed to hold on but they needed Murillo to their rescue with the last kick of the game. There was a huge scramble in the Forest box as they desperately tried to clear and City tried to poke it in. No Forest defender was able to make clean contact and it finally fell to Savinho who thought he was rolling it into an empty net as Sels had come out. However, Murillo had got back on the goal line to clear it away and the referee blew for full time.

Forest remain in 17^th, just out of the relegation zone on goal difference as West Ham managed to hold onto their lead. As for City, that’s two points dropped on Arsenal as they won at Brighton.

I’m very proud of the performance from Wednesday. The fight, the passion, the energy and the hard work was all there and I’m confident if we show this like we did for the remaining nine games, we will be absolutely fine. The two goals that we conceded were poor and they are goals we cannot be conceding when in a relegation battle but the two goals we scored were of such quality. Gibbs-White’s goal was pure instinct and the technique was lovely. The pace and precision of Anderson’s goal was brilliant too. I also think the three at the back is the way forward. West Ham have two difficult games coming up in City and Villa whilst we have Fulham and Spurs so we need to take this chance.

Manchester City: Donnarumma; Ait Nouri (Khusanov 77’), Guehi, Dias, Nunes; Rodri; Semenyo, Cherki (Savinho 82’), Silva, Foden (Doku 77’); Haaland

Forest: Sels; Aina, Murillo, Milenkovic, Cunha, Williams (Morato 90’); Anderson, Sangare, Dominguez (Hudson-Odoi 63’); Gibbs-White (Yates 90’), Jesus (Awoniyi 79’)