Elliot Anderson's stunner denies Manchester City as Forest earn point at the Etihad
Nottingham Forest refused to go quietly at the Etihad on Wednesday night, twice coming from behind to earn a 2-2 draw that ended Manchester City's six-match winning streak and dealt a blow to their title hopes.
Semenyo opens the scoring with a volley
City dominated from the start, holding around 75 per cent of possession in the opening half-hour. The pressure told in the 31st minute when Antoine Semenyo, who joined from Bournemouth in January, met a delivery from Rayan Cherki with a clean volley to put the hosts ahead.
Forest, sitting 17th in the table and fighting relegation under new manager Vitor Pereira, showed little threat in the first half and went in at the break trailing 1-0.
Gibbs-White and Rodri trade goals in six-minute spell
The game turned on its head after the interval. Morgan Gibbs-White equalised in the 56th minute with a clever backheel after a knockdown from Igor Jesus, the Brazilian striker who has been Forest's standout signing this season with 12 goals across all competitions.
City responded quickly. Rodri rose to head home from a Rayan Ait-Nouri corner in the 62nd minute, scoring his first Premier League goal since May 2024. The Spaniard had spent eight months out with an ACL injury suffered in September 2024, making his return at the tail end of last season, and the goal drew a huge reaction from the Etihad crowd.
Anderson curls in to silence the Etihad
Forest could have folded. Instead, Elliot Anderson produced the moment of the match in the 76th minute, cutting inside and curling a shot from outside the box past Ederson. It was one of only four shots on target that Forest managed all evening, but it was worth any number of half-chances.
City threw everything forward in search of a winner. Penalty appeals for a challenge on Erling Haaland were waved away, and in the final seconds Murillo threw himself in front of a Savinho effort to make a goal-line clearance that preserved the point for Forest.
Where this leaves both sides
The result leaves City on 60 points from 29 games, seven behind Arsenal who have played 30. Guardiola still has a game in hand, but dropping points at home to a relegation-threatened side is the sort of slip that costs titles.
For Forest, the point could prove priceless. They sit 17th on 28 points, level with West Ham below them but ahead on goal difference. Pereira, appointed on February 15 as the club's fourth manager of the season, will take confidence from a display that showed real fight away from home.
