Forest hit back twice as City are forced to settle for a point

Antoine Semenyo volleyed us ahead in the first half before Morgan Gibbs-White’s backheel pulled the visitors level after the break.

Rodri headed us back in front only for Elliot Anderson to snatch a second equaliser for the relegation battlers.

City kept pushing for a winner and Savinho had a shot cleared off the line with the very last kick of the game. 

But it was to end in frustration as we fell seven points behind leaders having played a game fewer with the Gunners still to come to the Etihad. 

The game in 250 words

Forest arrived scrapping for their Premier League survival and desperate for their point, although they were without former City keeper Stefan Ortega Moreno through injury.

Under new boss Vitor Pereira, the visitors were happy to defend deep in their own box to make it hard for the Blues to test his replacement Matz Sels.

Semenyo smashed an early drive into the side-netting and Bernardo Silva had an effort deflected for the keeper to save as the game quickly settled into a pattern.

City dominated possession with Forest trying to play on the break and Gibbs-White had one clear sight of goal but his low shot was well saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The breakthrough finally came just after the half-hour when Rayan Cherki weaved his way into the box and fired in a cross for Semenyo to cleverly steer home on the volley.

Erling Haaland, back in the starting line-up after missing our win in his birthplace of Leeds, was then put through by Foden, but as he took the ball around Selz, the angle tightened and his shot hit the side of the net.

And he was close to getting a touch to Semenyo’s cross just before the break, as his drilled strike went across the six-yard box and somehow evaded everyone.

Bernardo went even closer after the restart when he wriggled his way into a shooting position only for Selz to fingertip his low effort wide of the far post.

Cherki also showed great individual skill to carve open an opportunity, his shot going  inches over the bar.

But it was Forest who got a shock equaliser when Gibbs-White backheeled home Igor Jesus’ backpost header.

The two sides were level for just six minutes as Rodri rose highest to head home Rayan Ait-Nouri’s corner and send the Etihad wild.

Appeals for a penalty when Selz made contact with Haaland were turned down before minutes later, Anderson fired home a second equaliser form the edge of the box.

With seven minutes of injury time, City pushed for a winner and Rodri prodded a late chance wide.

And with the last action of the game, we tried to scramble a winner, but Savinho’s poked effort was cleared off the line by Murillo.

Teams

CITY: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Guéhi, Ait-Nouri (Khusanov 77), Rodrigo, Bernardo (C), Semenyo, Cherki (Savinho 82), Foden (Doku 77), Haaland.

Subs not used: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Nico.

FOREST: Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Jair Cunha, Murillo, Williams (Morato 90), Anderson, Sangare, Dominguez (Hudson-Odoi 63), Gibbs-White (C) (Yates 90), Jesus (Awoniyi 79).

Subs not used: Gunn, Ndoye, Hutchinson, McAtee, Netz.

Attendance: 51,965

Star man

Rodri was unfortunate not to be the matchwinner after running the game from the midfield. 

His header put us back in front and it was another intelligent performance from the former Ballon d’Or winner. 

Step-by-step, the Spaniard is returning to his very best before the long-term injury that set him back.  

Semenyo strikes again

Semenyo was superb in the first half of the season for Bournemouth and hasn’t missed a beat since arriving at the Etihad in January.

The forward now has seven goals in his 12 appearances for City and has made exactly the impact that he and Guardiola will have hoped for.

Forest were quick to get players behind the ball and crowd the box but they lost the intelligent Semenyo who had just enough space to grab our opener.

He almost found an assist for Haaland – one of only two players above him in the Premier League goalscoring charts.

GUARDIOLA REACTION

“[There are] still many games to play, [Arsenal] one less.

“Now it’s Newcastle and I always think about what’s next.

“If we analyse then in general it was a good performance and there were many good things.

“Of course we have things we can improve but in general pretty good.”

NUNES REACTION

“We have to keep working the same.

“Our work ethic is not going to change, it doesn’t matter how many points we’re behind [Arsenal], we can be 15 points behind and we’re still going to try and chase them.”

What it means

The draw brings an end to our winning streak that stretched over six matches. 

We are now seven points behind Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, although we have a game in hand and host the Gunners in April. 

		Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Form
1		Arsenal Arsenal	30	20	7	3	59	22	37	67
2		Manchester City Man City	29	18	6	5	59	27	32	60
3		Manchester United Man United	29	14	9	6	51	40	11	51

What’s next?

We are next in action on Saturday 7 March when we face Newcastle United in the fifth round of the FA Cup with the game kicking off at 20:00 (UK).

That’s followed by a trip to Real Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16 on Wednesday 11 March at 20:00 (UK) for the first leg.

Our next Premier League encounter is on Saturday 14 March when we travel to West Ham for a 20:00 (UK).

Next Fixture

All fixtures

Sat 07 Mar

FA Cup

Newcastle

20:00

GMT

Man City