Manchester City’s slump in the Premier League continues: in a complete surprise on Saturday evening, the reigning runners-up also lost to second-bottom Nottingham, suffering their third consecutive league defeat.
After a blistering start to the season with seven wins from seven games, Manchester City have finally lost their way in the Premier League. Away to second-bottom Nottingham Forest, who had recently lost 0–2 at Brentford, the Sky Blues suffered their third defeat in a row and are gradually seeing champions Arsenal (six points ahead) pull away.
Enzo Maresca had not made any major changes to the line-up following the 3–2 win over RB Leipzig and fielded a strong starting XI. However, Nottingham took the wind out of the sleepy visitors’ sails right from the start and were more aggressive in the challenges. A prime example of this was the home side’s opening goal: Gvardiol carelessly tried to dribble on the edge of his own penalty area, Jair Cunha snatched the ball from the Croatian and slotted it past two passive City centre-backs into the bottom-left corner (6th minute).
McAtee misses chance to seal the win early on
There was no reaction from the visitors; instead, the home side fought passionately with the resources at their disposal and immediately had the vociferous crowd behind them. In the 18th minute, a counter-attack initiated by former Leipzig player Schlager was rewarded: Anderson looked out of sorts before Delap sprinted halfway across the pitch and smashed the ball into the top left-hand corner (18th minute).
The match could have been decided as early as the 20th minute, but McAtee, completely unmarked from 15 metres, shot over the bar. Before the break, City had just one decent chance – but Haaland’s shot was cleared off the line (41).
At half-time, the clearly dissatisfied Maresca brought on two new defenders, which spoke volumes: Gvardiol and Guehi made way for Matheus Nunes and O’Reilly. And indeed, the supposed favourites’ play improved initially. The reward came as early as the 52nd minute, when Cherki launched an attack and, following Doku’s blocked cross, fired the ball brilliantly into the top left-hand corner.
Delap sends Glasner sprinting
Man City pressed for ten minutes before Forest gradually broke free and began to invest more in their own attacking play again. Five minutes after Yates’ deflected shot had kissed the top of the crossbar, the match was decided: Forest launched a clinical counter-attack against the visitors, with Delap’s left-footed thunderbolt finding its way into the net off the inside of the right-hand post (73’). Even manager Glasner broke into a sprint to join the players’ celebratory huddle.
The score ultimately remained 3–1, sealing City’s third consecutive league defeat. Under Pep Guardiola, the Sky Blues had last lost four Premier League matches in a row – from matchdays 10 to 13 of the 2024/25 season.
Nottingham, celebrating their first home win since April (!), head into the international break on a high and, following the break on 21 November, face an away match at Bournemouth. Two and a half hours earlier, Man City will host Fulham, hoping to finally get back on track in the league.