Nottingham Forest 3-1 Manchester City: result and report

The Pundit picked Manchester City (62%): wrong

Report

Nottingham Forest beat Manchester City 3-1 at the City Ground. They won by taking their chances while City missed theirs. The result cut against what came before it. Forest had lost four of their five most recent Premier League matches, and City were unbeaten in seven of their eight most recent Premier League meetings with Forest.

Jair Cunha scored after six minutes. Liam Delap doubled the lead on 18 minutes from Xaver Schlager's assist.

Rayan Cherki pulled one back for Manchester City on 52 minutes, so City had the rest of the second half to find an equaliser. Instead, Delap settled it on 73 minutes, this time set up by Morgan Gibbs-White. He finished as player of the match with two goals.

Manchester City: plenty of the ball, too little end product

City had the ball for long spells but could not turn it into goals. They had 78% possession and 66 dangerous attacks to Forest's 25. They also led on xG, 1.47 to 0.93, and created three big chances to Forest's one. Yet they missed all three.

Despite all that territory, City managed only five shots to Forest's nine, with four on target to Forest's five. The chances they did create were good ones, but there were not many of them.

Nottingham Forest: less of the ball, more of the threat

Forest needed far less of the ball because they made what they had count. They took more shots, put more on target and hit the woodwork once, so their threat was sharper than their 22% possession suggests. City's pressure was much more sustained across the game, though Forest's best spells reached almost the same peak.