Manchester City kept the Premier League title race open with a hard-fought away win at Nottingham Forest. For the “Tricky Trees” the narrow defeat means a setback in the relegation battle.
It was Rayan Cherki’s day: first he prepared one goal, then he scored the second himself in Manchester City’s narrow and hard-fought 2-1 (0-0) win at Nottingham Forest. After the Citizens’ sixth win in a row, the title race with Arsenal remains open and extremely exciting. Coach Pep Guardiola’s team has presented and can now wait and see how the Gunners fare on matchday 18 of the Premier League.
The unfortunate defeat was a setback for coach Sean Dyche’s relegation-threatened team, but the “Tricky Trees” presented themselves in significantly improved form and can draw hope from the game despite the defeat. Tijjani Reijnders scored the goal to make it 1-0 for the Citizens (48th), Cherki scored the goal to make it 2-1 (83rd). Omari Hutchinson equalized for Nottingham to make it 1-1 (54th).
Shortly before kick-off there was a minute’s silence: John Robertson, the “Picasso of our game” as the Nottingham fans paid tribute to the club legend and former player before the game, died on Christmas Day at the age of 72.
No chance to score for City
The guests from Manchester took control at the beginning and had the ball most of the time. However, the hosts, who had been defending uncompromisingly up to that point, had their first big chance to score after seven minutes.
Callum Hudson-Odoi crossed from the left corner of the penalty area in front of the City goal, Morgan Gibbs-White missed the ball by just a few centimeters. Afterwards, Sean Dyche’s team also tried to set more offensive accents.
Guardiola’s team found it difficult to defend against the extremely compact “Tricky Trees“To find a gap in the defense. Top scorer Erling Haaland also didn’t get a chance as usual, also because he lacked suitable passes. The Citizens were disappointing in the first half and didn’t create any significant scoring opportunities.
Lightning start from the guests
Nottingham remained the much more dangerous team, but they were inaccurate in their finishing and thus missed a possible lead. And this negligence was to take revenge immediately after the break, Manchester got off to a lightning start.
After a pass into the penalty area from Cherki, Reijnders converted from eight meters while running and turning to make it 1-0 for the Skyblues. And just two minutes later, Cherki had the second goal on his feet, but his shot from a half-right position from ten meters landed only on the outside post.
Goalkeeper Victor with a brilliant save
The game picked up speed. And Nottingham contributed to that. After a counterattack via Gibbs-White and striker Igor Jesus, Hutchinson quickly equalized 1-1 with a flat direct shot from six meters.
An open exchange of blows developed in which both teams generated offensive pressure. Nottingham goalkeeper John Victor prevented another goal with a spectacular reflex against City attacker Phil Folden’s shot from ten meters (74th). Haaland continued to be a non-factor in the City offensive.
But Manchester struck again. After a corner kick and a header assist from Josko Gvardiol, Cherki hit the ball in a technically sophisticated manner from 14 meters flat into the bottom left corner for a late and celebrated 2-1 final score.