Manchester City 2-2 Nottingham Forest: Pep Guardiola haunted by two switch targets as challengers fumble grasp on the title race, writes JACK GAUGHAN
When Manchester City ground out a result in the east Midlands just after Christmas, scoring late and throwing themselves to preserve victory at Nottingham Forest, it felt like a juggernaut was beginning to chug.
Arsenal were there to be hunted down. City’s celebrations with the away end that day spoke to a team who were ready to start motoring.
But what followed in the coming weeks – three consecutive draws and defeat at Old Trafford – made a mockery of that.
City would do well to remember that when looking back on this, when two Forest midfielders whose pasts and futures are linked to City were the pair who threw a couple of spanners.
Morgan Gibbs-White, who thought was coming here this time last year, scored a sumptuous backheel. Elliot Anderson, whom City admire considerably ahead of the summer window, curled in a beautiful equaliser.
And with Arsenal winning down at Brighton, it made things very uncomfortable for Pep Guardiola.
Elliot Anderson’s stunning strike saw Nottingham Forest earn a point at Manchester City
Antoine Semenyo (right) gave Manchester City the lead on 31 minutes with this volley
This will not be the last of them, the dropped points. Both City and Arsenal are going to manage plenty before May is out and the run-in will be about guarding against nights like this as much as possible.
There will be a point of difference in this title race, one that pits vastly contrasting styles. Hopefully it will not be a set piece.
But given the cigarette paper between the quality available to City and Arsenal, there is likely to be a single something – or someone – that tips the scales one way or the other.
Those up in this part of the world will be believing that Antoine Semenyo can be the defining figure at the end of a season that has called the Premier League’s appeal into serious question.
He’s played in every division, dipped into non-league with Bath City, and while the golden boot is almost certainly out of reach, there is a purity to how Semenyo attacks these games. Smile beaming, full blooded, blessed to be having a major impact on a club he joined less than two months ago.
Nice guy, Semenyo, and it is nice to see them do well. It is now five goals in eight league games since leaving Bournemouth for £62.5million and were City to claw Arsenal all the way in, the 26-year-old will have had a significant bearing on that eventuality.
Seven goals in all competitions and six of those have come within the width of the posts. Three inside the six-yard box. City bought an(other) instinctive poacher who can mix it with the best and worst of this division when games rely so heavily on direct running and general physicality.
Although there is much work for Guardiola to do with him in tight spaces, his speed frightens markers and his finishing downs them. Possessing that combination does him no harm. For now, for the next two-and-a-half months, he can continue doing exactly what he does without correction.
The 31st-minute goal, a memorable volley for its definite execution, was made to look far more comfortable than it first appeared. Semenyo swivelled his body perfectly to find the requisite purchase on Rayan Cherki’s cross.
Morgan Gibbs-White equalised for Forest with this brilliant backheel on 56 minutes
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The Nottingham Forest captain celebrates after his exquisite finish restored parity at the Etihad
Rodri (right) restored City’s lead with this header before Anderson spoiled the hosts’ party
Cherki had sped the night up, seemingly bored of a flat City struggling to unpick Nottingham Forest’s back five and three in front. He darted into space on the right of Forest’s box before clipping into an area that a true goalscorer would devour.
The two aspects of Cherki had become evident in the space of a few minutes. After the assist – his eighth of the campaign – came the concession of possession in midfield that offered Forest a presentable opportunity to break, Gianluigi Donnarumma down to save from Igor Jesus.
Guardiola couldn’t hide frustration, barking into the sky and then towards his maverick. Cherki shrugged his shoulders in such stereotypical French fashion that it wouldn’t have looked out of place in a 90s sketch show.
Phil Foden was guilty of giving too much ball away in Forest’s third and from one of those moments, the visitors equalised. Ola Aina’s huge run up the right, storming forward, saw him clip to the far post and Jesus kept the move alive, nodding back towards Gibbs-White, who brilliantly backheeled.
Forest were level for only six minutes and it was a set piece that undid them, remarkably. Not necessarily Guardiola’s favourite past time and City’s numbers are average from corners this season but one from the foot of Rayan Ait-Nouri opened the game back up for City.
Erling Haaland crowded Matz Sels just as the delivery came in, bouncing away from that area to allow Rodri to attack the cross. Forest scrambled on the line yet Rodri’s will forced it over, his first league goal in two years.
Although checked by VAR, the routine certainly felt cleaner than we have seen in recent days. With no real rugby scrums, at least it felt like football.
There came a sting in the tail though. Anderson, the England midfielder, manufactured space for himself by completing a one-two with Callum Hudson-Odoi and from 25 yards out, bent into the far corner. Proving, as if that were needed, why everybody wants him.
