Man City vs Nottingham Forest: Arsenal’s title to lose as Guardiola’s men drop points

Manchester City’s Premier League title hopes suffered a huge blow on Wednesday night after they played out a 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium. 

City came into this game five points behind Arsenal with a game in hand but finished the day seven points behind the leaders, who are now in the driving seat after beating Brighton.

Manchester City started expectedly on the front foot, with Nottingham Forest happy to soak in the pressure. 

Guardiola’s men were in full control of possession, pinning Forest into their half. However, despite having the majority of the ball in the early stages of the match, the home side never really threatened Vitor Pereira’s men. 

It was like that until just a minute past the half-hour mark, when City finally found the breakthrough. The Cityzens took the lead through Semenyo, who showed great improvisation to finish acrobatically following a cross from Ryan Cherki. 

Semenyo’s goal gave City more energy, and they got close to doubling their lead a few minutes later. 

However, Erling Haaland could not get on the end of Semenyo’s brilliant low cross into the box. That turned out to be the last real chance of the half as City went into the break with a slender one-goal lead. 

The second half resumed with City picking up from where they stopped, keeping Forest in their own half. 

But despite having all the possession, Guardiola’s men could not find that second goal, and that proved costly as Forest restored parity against the run of play through Morgan Gibbs-White's incredible finish. 

The England international showed great intelligence to slot in a backheel finish after Igor Jesus’ header found him in the box. 

That goal dealt a major blow to City’s title quest, but Guardiola’s men found themselves back in front minutes later through Rodri’s header from a Rayan Ait-Nouri corner kick. 

However, once again, City could not hold on to that lead as Elliot Anderson restored parity for Forest in the 76th minute. 

The home side did try to respond again and almost got the winner with the last kick of the game, but Murillo cleared off Bernardo Silva’s goal-bound effort. 

Murillo’s clearance proved to be vital as they secured a valuable point, while City fall seven points behind Arsenal in the title race, although they have a game in hand.