Nott'm Forest 0 Man City 2
Pep Guardiola’s side travelled to the City Ground, finding themselves four points behind leaders Arsenal after their game earlier in the day. Forest were desperate for points themselves as they sit a mere one point outside of the bottom three.
The hosts almost upset the apple cart as the ball was chipped to the back post from the byline. It dropped to Williams in a dangerous position but as the City defenders crowded him, he just could not adjust his feet to get a shot away.
Man City started to apply some pressure themselves as Rodri won the ball deep in Forest’s half. Grealish found De Bruyne in the box but his shot took a deflection on the way through. Fortunately for the hosts, Sels got a touch to it to turn the effort around the post.
Neco Williams was causing problems for the defending champions. He checked onto his right foot wide in the box and managed to get a shot away. It was a fairly routine save for the Brazilian but one he needed to keep out nonetheless.
Credit:@premierleague
Grealish forced a corner for Man City, giving them a chance to get some bodies forward. De Bruyne whipped the ball in and Gvardiol got a glancing header at the near post to break the deadlock. You could see how much the goal meant by Guardiola’s celebration.
Nott’m Forest continued to press, the ball was recycled on the back post by Montiel, who picked out Wood in the middle of the box. With the keeper nowhere to be seen and goal at his mercy, he unbelievably had a complete air-shot when he really should have scored to level.
Into added time at the end of the first half, Ederson struggled to collect the ball. As it dropped, with the keeper on the floor, Murillo tried to improvise and score but put his effort over the crossbar. Another big chance went begging for the hosts.
After the interval, Elanga got to the byline and picked out Wood once again. No more than five yards out, the striker scuffed his shot as his effort was blocked and cleared. This certainly was not proving to be the Kiwi’s day.
Man City came forward on the attack and Alvarez tried his luck at goal. With Sels well beaten by the shot it just kept on rising and narrowly missed the crossbar. So close to doubling their lead and giving them some breathing space in the game.
The visitors started to dominate possession and De Bruyne spotted the movement of substitute Haaland. He squared up Murillo and checked onto his right foot before slotting it past Sels to get his thirty-second goal of the season. What an important one it may prove to be.
Credit: @premierleague
Forest continued to huff and puff but could not get the ball into the back of the net. Nuno Espirito Santo may well have his players doing extra finishing training in the week, they had plenty of chances to make this a far more difficult day for Man City.
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