Nottingham Forest stun Manchester City 3-1 as Liam Delap scores twice
Jair Cunha and a Liam Delap double gave Nottingham Forest a 3-1 win over Manchester City at the City Ground, Rayan Cherki's reply the only thing the champions-elect had to show for 78% of the possession.
Nottingham Forest produced the upset of the Premier League weekend, beating Manchester City 3-1 at the City Ground. Jair Cunha and a Liam Delap double did the damage for a Forest side that went into the match 19th in the table and came out of it with its best result of the season against the division's form team.
The hosts needed six minutes to lead, Cunha getting Forest up and running, and Delap doubled it before the quarter-hour mark, turning in a pass from Xaver Schlager to make it 2-0 inside eighteen minutes. City, suddenly chasing the game against a side many expected them to beat comfortably, went in at half-time still searching for a way back.
Rayan Cherki pulled one back early in the second half, finishing from City's long spells of possession and giving the visitors a route back into a game they were dominating territorially without troubling the scoreboard. It did not last. Delap struck again in the 73rd minute, Morgan Gibbs-White supplying the second assist of the afternoon, and City never looked like finding a leveller after that.
A scoreline that argued with the statistics
The numbers made for strange reading next to the result. Manchester City finished with 78% of the possession to Forest's 22%, completed 665 of their 753 passes against Forest's 138 of 206, and even edged the expected-goals count, 1.76 to 1.06. By most of the measures that usually settle Premier League matches, City were the better side for long periods of the afternoon. Forest simply made their moments count, scoring three times from the little territory they had while City's control of the ball amounted to one goal in reply.
Discipline swung one way too. Forest picked up all four of the match's bookings — James McAtee, Dan Ndoye, Luca Netz and Igor Jesus all cautioned between the 64th minute and injury time — while Manchester City finished the match without a single yellow card shown against them.
| Stat | Nottingham Forest | Manchester City |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 22% | 78% |
| Total shots | 11 | 12 |
| Shots on target | 5 | 4 |
| Pass accuracy | 138/206 (67%) | 665/753 (88.3%) |
| Corners | 3 | 7 |
| Fouls conceded | 13 | 7 |
| Offsides | 2 | 0 |
| Yellow cards | 4 | 0 |
| Expected goals (xG) | 1.06 | 1.76 |
Line-ups
- Nottingham Forest (3-4-2-1): Matz Sels; Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Jair Cunha; Ryan Yates, Xaver Schlager, Neco Williams, Daniel Muñoz; Liam Delap, Morgan Gibbs-White, James McAtee. Subs used: Dan Ndoye, Igor Jesus, Ibrahim Sangaré, Luca Netz
- Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Gianluigi Donnarumma; Marc Guéhi, Rúben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Abdukodir Khusanov; Rayan Cherki, Elliot Anderson, Enzo Fernández; Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku, Iliman Ndiaye. Subs used: Phil Foden, Nico O'Reilly, Matheus Nunes
Forest end a miserable run in the best way possible
The win arrives after a wretched stretch for Nottingham Forest, who lost four of their previous five league matches — away at Crystal Palace, at home to Arsenal and away at Brentford among them — with only a point salvaged at Ipswich Town breaking up the sequence. Saturday's result is their first league win since beating Aston Villa back in Matchweek 4, and by far their best performance of the campaign against a side from the top end of the table.
Manchester City, for their part, arrived at the City Ground on the back of three wins in their previous five matches in all competitions, including a 3-2 Champions League win away at RB Leipzig in midweek — form good enough that a trip to 19th-placed Forest looked, on paper, among the safer fixtures left before the international break. Erling Haaland, the division's top scorer, started up front but did not add to his tally, kept quiet by a Forest back line that gave up next to nothing in behind despite camping in its own half for most of the ninety minutes.
What's next
Nottingham Forest had gone into the weekend 19th in the Premier League with six points from nine games; Saturday's win takes them to nine points from ten, their biggest single-match haul of the season, though the bottom third of the table is still where they sit for now. Manchester City had sat 2nd with 21 points from nine games, five behind leaders Arsenal; the defeat leaves them on 21 points from ten games, still in the Champions League places but with less daylight to the chasing pack below them than they had on Friday night.
Picks for you
Advertising. Affiliate links — we may earn a commission on your purchases, at no extra cost to you. It does not influence our editorial coverage.
Keep reading
International FootballArsenal 1-0 Hull City: Martin Ødegaard's late strike extends the lead at the top
Martin Ødegaard's 72nd-minute goal was enough to beat a Hull City side reduced to defending for most of the afternoon — five Hull players were booked, none from Arsenal, in a 1-0 win at the Emirates.
International FootballIpswich Town 1-2 AFC Bournemouth: Evanilson and an own goal see off a late penalty scare
Evanilson's early strike and a 46th-minute Leif Davis own goal gave AFC Bournemouth a two-goal cushion at Portman Road, and a Jack Clarke penalty on 73 minutes was as close as Ipswich got to hauling it back.
International FootballManchester City 0-1 Brighton: Yasin Ayari's 11th-minute strike is enough to end City's unbeaten home run
Brighton needed one chance and took it, Yasin Ayari finishing off a Maxim De Cuyper pass with 11 minutes gone, and then defended their lead at the Etihad for the rest of the afternoon.