Man City defeated Nottingham Forest by 2-0 to secure three crucial points

Manchester City again earned the full three points in the 2023/2024 Premier League when they defeated Nottingham Forest with a score of 2-0 in the 35th week of the duel, Sunday(28th April 2024). Visiting the City Ground, Josep Guardiola's squad was on a mission to win three points to continue to maintain competition at the top of the standings. The Hosts Forest fought back well, but the difference in player quality was decisive. This time Man City's two goals were scored by Josko Gvardiol in the first half (32') and Erling Haaland in the second half (71'). Forest had chances but was not effective enough to score and this victory does not change Man City's position in second place in the Premier League standings with 79 points from 34 matches, making a point difference between them and Arsenal on the top. Forest itself failed to move away from the relegation zone.

The match started immediately with the Visitors Man City dominating an early counterattack. In the first 10 minutes, Man City started to build attacks, Forest was forced to play in their area and not without resistance. Nuno Espirito Santo's men used long balls to try to surprise the visiting team's defense and the goal that Man City had been waiting for finally arrived in the 32nd minute when City quickly took the Corner kick from the left side, De Bruyne's cross went to the near post to be met by Gvardiol's hard header and made it 0-1 in favour of Visitors.

Entering the final 10 minutes of the first half, Forest surprised us with some opportunities. Unfortunately Wood and Hudson-Odoi's attempts went wide, which should have been goals. The match resumed with some player changes. Ederson, who suffered an injury in the middle of the first half, was finally withdrawn, and Ortea played.

The same pattern of play was repeated in the second half, Man City was still very dominant. Forest tried to fight back but lost the ball too easily. In the 71st minute, Man City finally scored the second goal when De Bruyne's breakthrough pass split the opponent's defense, which was met by Haaland who managed to beat the opponent's defender to open up shooting space and extended the lead to 0-2. After that, Forest continued to try various ways to score a goal back, but Man City was still too strong. An additional 6 minutes is not enough and ended the match on 0-2 and sealed three crucial points.

Match statistics for Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City

Shots: 14 - 11

Shots on target: 2 - 5

Ball possession: 33% - 67%

Passes: 345 - 726

Pass accuracy: 81% - 90%

Offense: 8 - 6

Yellow cards: 0 - 0

Red cards: 0 - 0

Offside: 2 - 1

Corners: 4 - 5

Lineup

Notts Forest (5-4-1): Tues; Aina, Niakhate, Murillo (74' Omobamidele), Boly (84' Sangare), Williams (35' Montiel); Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Danilo (74' Yates), Elanga (74' Reyna); Wood

Coach: Nuno Espirito Santo

Man City (4-1-4-1): Ederson (46' Ortega); Gvardiol, Ake, Akanji, Walker; Rodri; Grealish (62' Haaland), Silva, De Bruyne (89' Nunes), Doku (46' Kovacic); Alvarez (89' Bobb)

Coach: Josep Guardiola