Manchester City (H) 28/04/24

 

Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City 

                                                        Gvardiol 32'

                                                        Haaland 71'

 

Manchester City coming to town. The reigning champions. The game no one near the relegation zone expects to win. Yet, there’s still that feeling in your gut your team will pull off a miracle. A miracle that Forest needed to pull off to eliminate any fears of this relegation fight going down to the last day.

The Blues were on an unbeaten streak in the Premier League dating all the way back to the 6^th December, when they suffered a narrow defeat 1-0 at Villa Park. They were also a high following a win at Wembley sending them through to the FA Cup final against their bitter rivals, Manchester United. The Reds had 1 win in 10 after losing to relegation rivals, Everton, last weekend. Previous history was on Forest’s side; having only lost 3 of their last 16 home matches against City. Nuno has only lost one of his previous 4 home encounters against Pep Guardiola.

From kickoff, you could see the spring in Forest’s step and the eagerness they had to play against the title challengers. Neco Williams had a good chance just a minute in, but the ball got stuck beneath his feet. It was City who had the first big chance through De Bruyne. Morgan Gibbs-White was tackled by Rodri deep into his own half. The ball was picked up by Grealish who played in the Belgian international down the left of the box who cut back onto his right foot before finding room for a shot which was saved brilliantly by Sels getting down low to push it behind for a corner.

Chris Wood missed with a header which looped over the bar. City took advantage of the missed chance and ended the deadlock just minutes later. De Bruyne whipped in a corner from the left. Gvardiol wriggled free from his marker to meet the ball at the near post and head in from close range. The pace of the ball took it beyond Sels in goal. Everyone knows about Forest’s poor set-piece defending but this time the Red’s weren’t helped as Williams was off the pitch being treated for a hamstring injury leaving Forest one man short. This was an injury which resulted in a forced change for the hosts.

As the first half drew to a close, Wood had a brilliant chance to draw the Reds level. Ola Aina crossed in a ball from the left which evaded everyone in front of goal. Gonzalo Montiel put the ball back into the 6 yard area for Wood from the back post. The ball was bouncing and seemed to be just behind the forward as he scuffed at the turf. The chance of scoring into an empty City net had gone amiss. The Reds had another brilliant opportunity from a corner. Ederson’s punch was poor, and it looped to Murillo who tried to flick it over the grounded keeper. Unfortunately for him, the flick hit the crossbar from just 2 yards out. Would Forest come to regret missing such a golden opportunity?

How many chances were Forest going to throw away? In the opening moments of the second half, the Reds had a brilliant chance to equalise. Anthony Elanga wriggled away from Kyle Walker as he broke into the box before crossing low to Wood. His first time finish was blocked by Gvardiol but any harder and the City Ground would’ve erupted.

Forest seemed to tire and run out of energy and as any title winning side do, City capitalised and doubled their advantage. Kovavic played a ball into De Bruyne in space between the lines as the Blues broke forward. The midfielder played a lovely timed pass into substitute Erling Haaland in the right hand channel. Murillo tightened the angle at goal but the Norwegian’s talent was too much as he slotted the ball into the bottom left corner beyond an outstretched Sels. Just minutes prior, man of the match, De Bruyne unleashed a shot at goal from the edge of the ‘D’, which Sels had reacted sharply to.

Despite the promising Forest performance, City were in complete control following the second goal. They saw the game out with the majority of possession and stopping any further Forest attacks. A late strike from Callum Hudson-Odoi was all that the Reds could muster, but replacement goalkeeper, Ortega Moreno, tipped any danger away. The Blues closed the title race to a 1 point gap to Arsenal. As for Forest, a performance to be proud of and one they need to take into their crucial fixture vs Sheffield United next weekend.

I’m really happy with our performance. We went toe-to-toe with probably the best team in the world for 70 minutes. Our finishing must improve though. We can’t keep missing key chances especially in games like these where we get very few opportunities. If we play this way at Bramall Lane, we should confidently beat them if we can finish our key chances. Everyone played very well but Ola Aina was a standout to me. Running up and down the left, he really put in a shift and caused Walker some problems. The formation worked well and I think that’s how we should finish the season. Come on you Reds!

 

Forest: Sels; Williams (Montiel 35'), Niakhate ,Murillo (Omobamidele 74'), Boly (Sangare 84') Aina; Elanga (Reyna 74'), Danilo (Yates 74') Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood

Manchester City: Ederson (Ortega Moreno 46'); Walker, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; Rodri; Doku (Kovacic 46'), De Bruyne (Nunes 89'), Bernado Silva, Grealish (Haaland 62'); Alvarez (Bobb 89')