“Arsenal” continues to put good pressure on Pep Guardiola’s team, which, although they have matches in reserve, they still need to be won. One such match was at the City Ground against local team Nottingham Forest and at first glance, it looked like a simple task for such a powerful team.
Phil Foden and Ruben Dias were not in the “towns” team. It was reported that both football players fell ill on the eve of the meeting. And the absence of Phil Foden was so noticeable that at some point they wanted to call it not Manchester City Football Club, but Phil Foden Football Club, as Chelsea have recently been called Cole Palmer’s Football Club.
The “townsmen” were extremely passive in this match. Almost without created moments, everything is very sterile, without speed and a clear understanding of how to attack against the motivated “foresters”, who are currently continuing the fight for survival in the Premier League. They still scored their goal after the standard: a pass from Kevin De Bruyne found the head of the onrushing Josko Guardiola, who aimed a shot into the near corner of Matz Sels’ goal. 0:1, the score is comfortable and it seemed that now everything should go better.
But instead we saw some miracles of non-realization from Chris Wood and company. The Australian striker of the “Foresters” could probably complete a hat-trick on his own. Why could he? Had. At one point, he missed the ball, hitting the half-empty goal from a few meters out, then wasted another perfect opportunity. Then there was a panic after the corner and only a miracle saved the guests from conceding a goal, because Murillo hit the crossbar from a few meters away.
In the second half, the pattern of the game did not change much, and Guardiola decided to play more cautiously, releasing Mateo Kovacic in place of Jeremy Doku. Ederson was also injured in the first half of the match, so he was replaced by Stefan Ortega. And Nuno Espiritu Santo’s team continued to increase the pressure on other people’s goals, they practically cut off Kevin De Bruyne from the game, did not allow their opponent to create anything, and all that was missing was an accurate shot in the attack.
Later, Erling Holland also took the field for the first time after an injury. Guardiola gave his main striker 30 minutes. It was the exit of the Norwegian that finally calmed the game, we saw at least some positional attacks from the “townsmen”. In one of them it was Holland who scored a goal. He received a pass from De Bruyne, brilliantly beat the defender and shot into the far corner of the goal. Skill, individual class – that’s what separates Nottingham Forest and Manchester City and that’s what made all the difference tonight. If Chris Wood was as good an attacker as Erling, the scoreboard would have been completely different, 0:2.
After that, the game calmed down as much as possible, because both teams understood everything: some simply tried to defend their advantage, while others did not have enough strength and energy for a comeback. This victory brings Manchester City closer to Arsenal, with just 1 point between them again, and Guardiola’s team still have a game in hand. However, with such a game, there are no guarantees that they will take theirs.
And “Nottingham Forest” remains on the 17th, saving step. Three points to the relegation zone and three rounds remain. They still have something to fight for.
Premier League, 35th round
Stadium: “City Ground” (Nottingham)
Chief Judge: Simon Hooper (England)
“Nottingham Forest” – “Manchester City” 0:2
Naked: Guardiol (32), Holland (71)
Nottingham Forest: Sels – Williams (Montiel, 35), Niakate, Boley (Sangare, 84), Murillo (Omobamidele, 74), Aina – Yelanga (Reina, 74), Danilo (Yates, 74), Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi – Wood
Manchester City: Ederson (Ortega, 46) — Walker, Akanji, Ake, Guardiol — Rodri — Doku (Kovacic, 46), De Bruyne (Nunyes, 89), Silva, Grealish (Holland, 62) — Alvarez (Bobb, 89)
Warning: there is no
