Nottingham Forest has taken a massive step towards picking a champions league ticket for next season after beaten Manchester City 1-0 to retain the third position on the league table.
The club’s victory against the Pep Guardiola team was its first after 28 years, ending its drought against the Manchester club in the league.
During the game played on Saturday inside the City Ground, the home ground of Nottingham Forest, Callum Hudson-Odoi, scored the only goal of the game in the 83rd minute to claim all three points of the match.
With seven minutes of an otherwise uneventful contest remaining, Hudson-Odoi collected a magnificent Morgan Gibbs-White pass in his stride before beating City goalkeeper Ederson at his near post to send the home fans into ecstasy.
In a game billed as crucial in the race to earn a spot in Europe’s premier club competition next season, City had the better opportunities before the interval but lacked the pace or ingenuity to breach the home side’s dogged defence.
A powerful Nico Gonzalez effort which flew narrowly wide of Matz Sels’ right-hand post was the high point of a drab first half, and there were few signs of improvement early in the second period despite Forest’s greater urgency.
After Nico Dominguez volleyed an Anthony Elanga cross straight at Ederson within seconds of the restart, Hudson-Odoi had a low effort tipped on to the post by the Brazilian midway through the second half.
Pep Guardiola introduced Kevin de Bruyne and Omar Marmoush with 20 minutes remaining but there was little in the way of goalmouth action in the latter stages until Hudson-Odoi’s moment of inspiration.
Guardiola and his players can have few complaints with the outcome as they slipped to a ninth league defeat of a tumultuous season – their joint-most in a single campaign under the Spaniard.
Third-placed Forest move four points clear of City, who stay fourth but could be overtaken by Chelsea if the Blues beat struggling Leicester City on Sunday.
Commenting on the victory, Forest manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, stated that the win came after a massive push to prevent their visitors from controlling the game even with more shots at goal than his team.
He said: “It was a tough game everybody saw how good Manchester City are, they had us on the ropes but the boys worked very hard. Of course they were going to have chances but then it was then about us taking ours.
“It was good today. It started with Anthony [Elanga] and Chris [Wood] trying to cut the lines to give time to the back lines but definitely a very good defensive display. We tried to block and then break through the middle with Anthony.
“The focus does not change. We are on to the next one, Ipswich. It [beating City] shows the progress of the squad but there is so much football to be played. Let’s focus on the journey and move on to the next one.”
