Forest had not scored at home all season, and Liam Delap’s double has handed Man City a third straight defeat
Jair Cunha and Liam Delap had Nottingham Forest two up inside 18 minutes at the City Ground, and Manchester City go into the international break six points behind Arsenal.
Nov 8, 2026
Nottingham Forest fans had sat through hours of Premier League football at the City Ground this season without seeing their side score. On Saturday they saw two inside 18 minutes against Manchester City, and Liam Delap, a City academy graduate, added a third as Forest won 3-1 for their first home league win of the campaign.
For City it was a third league defeat in a row, after losing 2-1 at Aston Villa and 1-0 at home to Brighton. Seven wins to start the season, and now three defeats on the bounce. Arsenal beat Hull 1-0 earlier in the day, so Enzo Maresca’s side go into the international break six points behind the leaders.
Two lost duels, two Forest goals
Forest led after six minutes. Jair Cunha closed down Josko Gvardiol, took the ball off him and ran on to score with his left foot.
The second came 12 minutes later. Xaver Schlager beat Elliot Anderson, the midfielder City bought from Forest for £116 million in the summer, to a 50-50 in midfield and sent Delap through from halfway. Nobody stopped him, and he lashed his shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
City did have chances before the break. Enzo Fernández should have scored with a header from Marc Guéhi’s cross, and in the 41st minute Erling Haaland went round Matz Sels only for Cunha to clear his shot off the line.
Cherki pulls one back, Delap ends it
Cherki made it 2-1 in the 52nd minute. Jérémy Doku’s cross was deflected his way and he struck a half-volley into the top corner. Forest captain Ryan Yates then saw a shot loop off Anderson and hit the bar.
City were pushing for an equaliser when Forest broke. Morgan Gibbs-White fed Delap, and in the 73rd minute he curled his shot high into the corner. Those were his first goals at the City Ground since he arrived from Chelsea in the summer. Oliver Glasner sprinted down the touchline to join the celebrations.
“I had to run more than Enzo Maresca as well and I did my job,” the Forest coach joked afterwards. He was careful not to call it a turning point, though. “We have a saying in Austria. One swallow does not make a summer.”
“Copy and paste,” says Maresca
Maresca did not defend the first half. “We didn’t match the intensity that these kind of games required,” he said, and he pointed to the way Forest’s second and third goals came. “The second and the third goal that we conceded in transition, they are copy and paste.”
He told the BBC there was “no panic” and that the international break should be used to work out what has changed since the seven-game winning start. City have conceded six goals in their three straight defeats. They also lost Gvardiol and Guéhi at half-time, and Maresca said both asked to come off with knocks.
What it does to the table
City stay second on 21 points from 10 games, with Arsenal top on 27. Forest move up to 16th on nine points, two clear of the bottom three.
Their win dropped Manchester United into 18th. United host Aston Villa on Sunday with the chance to climb straight back out.