City beaten by fellow Champions League chasers Forest | OneFootball

City lost out on a chance to leapfrog fellow Champions League chasers Nottingham Forest following a 1-0 defeat in the East Midlands.

Pep Guardiola’s men remain in fourth in the top-flight table with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side cementing their spot in third after a Callum Hudson-Odoi strike resulted in defeat for the Blues.

City had chances either side of the break from Nico and Kevin De Bruyne but Hudson-Odoi earned all three points for the Tricky Trees late on as he came onto a Morgan Gibbs-White crossfield ball before firing past Ederson.

There are now 10 top-flight games remaining as Guardiola’s men look to secure qualification for the elite European competition for an impressive 15th successive season.

WHAT HAPPENED

Forest pre-match anthem Mull of Kintyre was still ringing in the ears of those in all four sides of the City Ground as the game kicked off in glorious March sunshine.

Those same supporters belting out the Wings classic were up on their feet again on three minutes in a moment of applause for ex Forest ace and former City skipper and manager Stuart Pearce who was taken ill on a transatlantic flight on the eve of the match. Best wishes to our 2001/02 promotion-winning captain!

On the pitch, the first effort of the early Saturday encounter fell to the visitors, Erling Haaland seeing a right-foot shot from just outside the box fly marginally wide after a mistake from fellow hitman Chris Wood set him up for the chance.

Nico, tasked with dominating the battle ground of midfield, almost had an attacking impact on 14 minutes with a fierce 25-yard drive which flew agonisingly past Matz Sels before striking the post.

There was a slick, polished move on the half hour mark involving Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden with the latter seeing a shot charged down in the box as the Blues looked to open the scoring.

Foden turned provider five minutes later as the England international cut the ball back for Bernardo Silva, the Portuguese ace firing over when unmarked breaking into the box.

Jeremy Doku blasted straight at Sels late in the half after dancing his way into position to shoot from 20 yards out.

Forest battled hard in the first period but had little in the way of sights of goal, Morgan Gibbs-White seeing a miscued strike fly harmlessly away from danger and strike ace Wood failing to chip over Ederson.

Forest enjoyed the first effort of the second period, Anthony Elanga’s deep cross from the left finding Nicolas Dominguez whose volley was well collected by Ederson.

What followed for the next 15 minutes was plenty of huffing and puffing by both sides but very little in the way of clear-cut chances.

The manager rang the changes on the hour mark as he looked to find the winning formula, Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis replacing Nico and Matheus Nunes while soon after Kevin De Bruyne and Omar Marmoush came on for Phil Foden and Savinho.

In between times, Ederson produced a first-class save to push a Callum Hudson-Odoi rocket against the post and away from danger.

Substitute KDB looked to turn the tie in the Blues favour after entering the action, having an opportunistic left-foot curler fail to dip enough to find the net before seeing a 20-yard free-kick well collected by Sels.

Hudson-Odoi opened the scoring for the hosts, the winger firing past our Brazilian shot-stopper at his near-post as the clock ticked down.

Abdukodir Khusanov helped us avoid going further behind with a fine block to deny Wood in the box.

There were hearts in mouths in stoppage time as Kovacic's half volley whistled past the post.

But it was the hosts who were celebrating as the referee blew the full-time whistle.

TEAMS

NOTTINGHAM FOREST XI: Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Dominguez (Yates 69'), Anderson, Gibbs-White (C), Elanga, Hudson-Odoi, Wood

Subs: Hennessey, Morato, Sangare, Awoniyi, Moreno, Jota, Danilo, Boly

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes (Lewis 61'), Khusanov, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Nico (Kovacic 62'), Bernardo, Savinho (Marmoush 69'), Foden (De Bruyne 69'), Doku, Haaland

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Grealish, Gundogan, Reis, O'Reilly

MANAGER VERDICT

The post-match views of Pep Guardiola will appear here shortly.

PLAYER VERDICT

Check back here later for the match analysis from one of our first team players.

WHAT IT MEANS

City remain in fourth spot in the Barclays Premier League following defeat at the City Ground.

We stay on 47 points while Forest cement their place in third on 51 points.

Of our Champions League rivals currently within touching distance, Chelsea host Leicester while Bournemouth are away at Tottenham on Sunday, Newcastle travel to the London Stadium to take on West Ham on Monday.

Meanwhile, Brighton welcome Fulham and Aston Villa head to Brentford this afternoon.

WHAT NEXT

City are back at home next Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s men host Brighton in a 15:00 (UK) kick-off at the Etihad Stadium.

The corresponding fixture away, in November 2024, was a frustrating one for the Blues.

We were ahead through Rico Lewis and looked to be on the way to victory before late goals from João Pedro and Matt O'Riley turned the game in favour of the Seagulls.

Here's to a more favourable result this time around.