Manchester City returned to the City Ground with unfinished business after last season’s costly defeat and delivered when it mattered most. Pep Guardiola’s side overturned an early setback to beat Nottingham Forest 2-1, temporarily climbing to the top of the Premier League table and piling pressure on Arsenal.
The victory marked City’s sixth straight league win, lifting them to 40 points from 18 matches. Arsenal, now one point behind with a game in hand, face Brighton next as the title race tightens.
Shirkey Double Turns the Tide Manchester
After a cagey first half with few clear chances, the contest burst into life shortly after the restart. City struck first with their opening shot on target as Tijjani Reijnders swept home a low effort following Rayan Cherki’s delivery.
Forest responded swiftly. Morgan Gibbs-White launched a counter-attack before picking out Igor Jesus, whose cross was finished clinically to bring the hosts level and reignite the home crowd.
City kept pushing, and their persistence paid off late on. Ryan Shirkey, already on the scoresheet, struck decisively in the 83rd minute to seal a dramatic comeback and silence the City Ground.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒖𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕, 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕,” 𝑮𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉. “𝑾𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐.”
Forest threatened again through Nico Williams and Nicola Savona, while goalkeeper John Victor produced several fine saves to keep his side alive. But City’s quality told in the end as they claimed a crucial three points.
With momentum firmly on their side, Manchester City have thrown down the gauntlet in the title race—now it’s up to Arsenal to respond.
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