JAKARTA - Manchester City failed to take advantage of the opportunity to win when playing in the English Premier League home match after being held by Nottingham Forest 2-2 at the Etihad Stadium, Thursday, March 5, 2026 early morning WIB.
The bottom teams are starting to cause trouble. They still fight even though they face top teams to avoid the threat of relegation. In last weekend's match, bottom-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers successfully beat Aston Villa 2-0.
Even though they failed to get out of the red zone, Wolves showed they refused to give up when facing a team in the Champions League zone.
Now, Man City faces the same situation when hosting Forest. Always ahead first, but Forest, who is still struggling at the bottom of the table, is able to catch up and force a draw.
Only able to get one point at home is clearly a loss for Man City. Even though they are still in second place, Man City is starting to have trouble chasing the leader of the Arsenal standings.
Now, Man City who has 60 points is seven points behind Arsenal who beat Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0. However, The Cityzens still have one match against Crystal Palace.
Meanwhile, Forest managed to score one very valuable point. The draw at least saved Forest from falling in rank. This is because they are still in 17th place with 28 points. The same as West Ham United who are in the relegation zone, but Forest is still ahead in terms of goals.
In that match, Man City was actually able to dominate. They played offensively and put Forest under pressure. However, the solid defense of the team coached by Vitor Pereira made it difficult for Man City to score.
The hosts had to wait until the 31st minute when striker Antoine Semenyo broke the deadlock when he finished off a cross from Rayan Cherki.
His left-footed volley was able to beat goalkeeper Matz Sels, giving Man City a 1-0 lead. This is also Semenyo's fifth goal in eight Premier League games since moving from Bournemouth.
Only Man City failed to add a goal despite still maintaining an offensive game. The score remained until the first half ended.
Entering the second half, Man City still maintained dominance over Forest. Even the team coached by Pep Guardiola was almost adding a goal through Bernardo Silva. Only, the Portuguese national team midfielder's shot could be stopped by Sels. Likewise, Cherki's shot still soared over the crossbar.
When Man City put pressure on, Forest managed to take advantage of the opportunity to equalize the score in the 56th minute. It started with the action of midfielder Ola Aina who managed to hold off the attack and then took control of the ball.
He then took the ball past Rayan Ait-Nouri and gave it to Igor Jesus. From Jesus' pass, the ball was received by Morgan Gibbs-White who beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with a backheel.
The score changed 1-1 which made Man City increase the pressure. As a result, the hosts didn't take long to get ahead again. This time midfielder Rodri broke the Forest goal after welcoming Ait-Nouri's cross. Rodri's hard header conquered Sels in the 62nd minute.
Only Man City actually slowed down the game after taking a 2-1 lead. As a result, Donnarumma's goal was again conceded. The goal started from a one-two collaboration between midfielder Elliot Anderson and Callum Hudson-Odoi. The ball was controlled by Anderson who then shot into the Man City goal in the 76th minute.
The score changed to 2-2. There were no additional goals, which made Man City draw at home. Man City also failed to close the gap with Arsenal.
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