[24/25 PL R28 리뷰] 맨시티, 노팅엄에 0-1 석패…5위로 밀려날 위기 | 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.

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.

City had chances through Nico and Kevin De Bruyne either side of the break while a Mateo Kovacic half-volley whistled past the post in the dying embers.

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 past Matz Sels before agonisingly 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 sent the hosts into delirium as the clock ticked down, the winger firing past our Brazilian shot-stopper at his near-post to put Forest one-up.

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

Kovacic was so close to earning us a point at the death but his half volley in stoppage time whistled past the post.

That was sadly that as the hosts celebrated gleefully when the referee blew the full-time whistle.

TEAMS

NOTTINGHAM FOREST XI: Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Dominguez (Yates 69'), Anderson, Gibbs-White (C), Elanga (Sangare 80'), Hudson-Odoi (Morato 87'), Wood (Awoniyi 87')

Subs: Hennessey, 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

“We have to win games and if we don’t win enough games in a row to be secure, it will be a battle. We have 10 games left and we have to win a lot of games to qualify. It’s as simple as that.

“To find a way, you have to play better. You have to find something. It will not come from the sky. You have to do it. In situations you have to find something.

“The situation is what it is, we have 10 games left starting next Saturday against Brighton, international break after and then we will see what happens.”

NICO VERDICT

“It was a really tough match, we knew it was going to be hard.

“We had our chances. We were much better than them in the first half. Second half I think it was a more open game. In the last minutes when you lose, it isn't easy.

“I think apart from the goal I can't remember another clear chance for them. That means we did a really good job defensively.

“At the end they wanted to keep the result 0-0 and they knew they would have a chance on the counter, or a corner, that's why they're third in the league and in a Champions League spot.

“It's tough, it's tough to accept it. But we have to keep working.”

WATCH: Nottingham Forest 1-0 City: Short highlights

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.