7 hours ago
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Judging by the way Gianluigi Donnarumma celebrated Rayan Cherki’s late winner at Nottingham Forest, this was a significant victory for Manchester City. Donnarumma hurtled towards the bench where Pep Guardiola was being mobbed by his coaching staff, including Kolo Touré, Pep Lijnders and the set-piece coach James French, seemingly the architect behind Phil Foden’s corner that led to the goal. Cherki smacked a right-foot effort through the legs of Morgan Gibbs-White and into the corner of the Forest goal, to put City ahead of Arsenal for a couple of hours at least. Earlier, Forest’s Omari Hutchinson had cancelled out Tijjani Reijnders’ second-half opener.
Guardiola had warned his squad against overindulging on Christmas Day, promising to weigh his players on their return to training and before they departed for Nottingham. “Only the manager is overweight – the rest are perfect,” the City manager, fresh from a couple of days in Catalonia, said with a smile before kick-off. City arrived in ominous form and have now won their past eight matches in all competitions, including six in a row in the Premier League.
For Forest, emotions had been heightened following the news of John Robertson’s passing at the age of 72. There were floral tributes on the gates of the City Ground, Forest players and staff wore black armbands and, pre-match, there was a moving montage displayed on the big screens. “Robbo is bionic,” read a scarf held aloft by one home supporter. A banner in the Bridgford Stand, to be renamed in Robertson’s honour, carried that famous old line from another Forest hero, Brian Clough. “Give him a yard of grass and he was an artist,” it read. “The Picasso of our game.”
Quickly an entertaining game centred on Igor Jesus’s tussle with the City centre-backs Rúben Dias and Josko Gvardiol and the Forest striker enjoyed giving both defenders a difficult ride. From kick-off the Brazil striker charged into Dias, as if to advise of the kind of afternoon ahead. Gvardiol was eventually penalised by the referee, Robert Jones, for tugging at Igor Jesus’s shirt on halfway and seconds later Dias was booked for another foul. Gvardiol could count himself fortunate.
Forest passed up the first big opening, Igor Jesus and Gibbs-White both trying and failing to convert a Callum Hudson-Odoi cross after galloping, almost in tandem, towards the City six-yard box. Hutchinson, lurking behind them, was also on the scene. Down in the home technical area, Sean Dyche also seemed to bend his run towards the back post.
For so long, Forest limited City to nearly moments, neither team registering efforts on target in the first half. Erling Haaland had one of those afternoons, six first-half touches, his greatest contribution dummying an overcooked Elliot Anderson pass. The City supporters appreciated it at least. “Haaland, Haaland!” came the chant.
But two and half a minutes into the second half City seized the lead, Reijnders sneaking behind Nikola Milenkovic to apply a low finish past John Victor in the Forest goal at the end of a slick move. Gvardiol located Cherki, who played the killer pass. Guardiola ran and pointed at his assistant, Lijnders, and the relief at breaking Forest’s stubborn resistance was palpable. Guardiola high-fived and hugged Lijnders. It felt a big goal given the tightness of the game.
For a few minutes Reijnders’ strike seemed to provide City the warmth of a Christmas blanket and, on the run, Cherki sent an effort at goal that Victor forced on to his left post and out for a corner. Then Forest found an equaliser, Hutchinson, a £37.5m arrival from Ipswich in the summer, registering his first goal for the club. Gibbs-White drifted into the left channel and picked out Igor Jesus, who wedged a superb cross towards the edge of the box, where Hutchinson did the rest. It would not be so straightforward, after all, Cherki’s winner maintaining City’s winning run.
