Nottingham Forest 1-1 Manchester City: Champions denied top spot by Wood´s late leveller

Manchester City missed the chance to return to the Premier League summit as Chris Wood’s late goal secured a 1-1 draw for Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s men had been usurped after Arsenal’s last-gasp win over Aston Villa earlier in the day, but they looked set to reclaim top spot thanks to Bernardo Silva’s sumptuous first-half strike.

City wasted a host of glorious opportunities to extend their lead in the second half, with Erling Haaland guilty of one particularly glaring miss, and they were duly punished late on.

FULL-TIME | The points are shared in Nottingham.

1-1 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/79PzdTcLFQ

— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 18, 2023

Substitute Wood popped up at the back post to score his first goal for the club to punish City’s profligacy and hand Arsenal the advantage in the title race.

Despite utterly dominating possession, City did not create their first clear sight of goal until the 33rd minute when Rodri narrowly headed wide from Kevin De Bruyne’s superb cross.

Moments after flashing a long-range effort wide, Silva gave City the lead with a wonderful left-footed strike from 25 yards that proved too powerful for Keylor Navas.

Phil Foden and Aymeric Laporte squandered golden opportunities to double City’s lead shortly after the interval, while Haaland hit the crossbar and inexplicably crashed over the rebound midway through the second period.

Navas tipped over an Ilkay Gundogan free-kick as City continued to pour forward, but it was the hosts who scored next as Morgan Gibbs-White picked out Wood at the far post, where the on-loan Newcastle United striker prodded home.

Guardiola responded by sending on Julian Alvarez but not even a World Cup winner could prevent City from dropping two points in wasteful circumstances.

What does it mean? City fail to keep pace with Gunners

Arsenal’s win over Villa cranked the pressure up on City and the champions failed to respond.

Twenty three shots to Forest’s four and 73.3 per cent of the possession demonstrated their dominance, but their inability to find a second goal came back to haunt them in the end.

Silva ends drought in style

With City dominating possession but struggling to find a way through Forest’s stubborn backline, Silva picked a good time to score his first goal since a 4-2 win over Crystal Palace on August 27. It would have been a fitting goal to win all three points, but Wood had other ideas.

Sluggish Shelvey

Jonjo Shelvey looked well off the pace on his first Premier League start of the season. The former Newcastle United midfielder failed to make win a single duel or make any key passes before he was replaced in the 72nd minute.

What’s next?

City are away to RB Leipzig in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday, before visiting Bournemouth next Saturday – the same day Forest travel to West Ham.