Manchester City weren’t good enough against Nottingham Forest as they fell seven points behind Arsenal with a game in hand after a 2-2 draw
With 30 minutes left of Manchester City’s game with Nottingham Forest, Pep Guardiola was ready to twist. Impatient after Nottingham Forest’s equaliser and an average showing from his starters, the coach had Nathan Ake and Jeremy Doku ready to come on.
Then City did what they do worse than nearly every team in the league and scored from a corner. To make it even sourer for Arsenal, it was their old nemesis Rodri who got on the end of Rayan Ait-Nouri’s corner and powered his header into the net.
City’s Ballon d’Or winner absolutely loved it, pumping his fists repeatedly in front of the family stand to celebrate the goal. It was his first in the Premier League since the final day of the 2023/24 season when it helped to crown the team champions, and without this goal they would have stood less chance of chasing Arsenal down this year.
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The goal, and the celebration, lifted the noise at the Etihad after an evening where the team had toiled. They hadn’t been at their best despite Antoine Semenyo neatly giving them a first-half lead with a clever finish for his 12th goal of the season.
It was niggly rather than nice as City were unusually wayward on the ball and slow in attack. If they were going to survive, they needed a watertight defence.
That ended when Morgan Gibbs-White backheeled through the legs of Ruben Dias and past a stunned Gigio Donnarumma early in the second half, leading to Guardiola feeling the need to twist. Rodri’s goal was the vindication of sticking with the same players that have pulled City back into this title race after results at United and Tottenham left them feeling low.
Even that wasn’t enough though. City were punished again for sloppy play as Elliot Anderson smashed one in from outside the box, curling it around Marc Guehi and past Donnarumma to once again silence the crowd. This time Guardiola twisted, with Abdukodir Khusanov and Doku coming on, but the damage had been done.
Haaland and Rodri had penalty claims, Sels did brilliantly to tip over a Semenyo free-kick and Savinho’s shot was cleared off the line with the last kick of the game. A messy end for a messy night, and not the performance or the result City needed to kick off a critical month for their season.
City know they can play much better than this, whoever is on the pitch. They are going to need to if they are to have any hope of catching Arsenal in their final nine matches.
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