Manchester City’s poor run continued on Saturday as Nottingham Forest handed them a 3-1 defeat at the City Ground, leaving the visitors six points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Liam Delap scored twice against City, while Jair Cunha added another goal to help Forest secure only their second league win of the season. Rayan Cherki scored City’s only goal.
The defeat was City’s third in a row in the Premier League. It also raised fresh concerns about their title hopes under Enzo Maresca.
Forest, who had failed to score at home all season, made a flying start. They took advantage of City’s defensive mistakes and scored twice inside the opening 20 minutes.
Cunha opened the scoring after winning the ball from Josko Gvardiol inside the City half. He raced towards goal and calmly beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
It was Forest’s first home goal in 511 minutes, and the breakthrough brought huge celebrations from the home supporters and club owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Delap soon doubled the lead with a powerful finish. Xaver Schlager won possession from Elliott Anderson in midfield and released the striker, who ran forward from his own half before firing past Donnarumma.
The goal was Delap’s first at home since his club record £50 million move from Chelsea.
City struggled to match Forest’s energy in the first half. Maresca responded by making two changes at the break, bringing on Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes.
The changes helped City improve. Cherki pulled one back with a fine strike after Jeremy Doku’s cross took a deflection into his path.
Erling Haaland then came close to equalising, but his effort went narrowly wide.
However, Forest remained dangerous whenever they attacked. With 15 minutes remaining, Morgan Gibbs-White found Delap, who finished with his left foot to restore the hosts’ two goal advantage.
The second goal completed a memorable night for Delap, who had struggled to make an impact since joining Forest.
City manager Maresca admitted his side had failed to compete with the hosts in the opening half.
“It’s quite clear, first half we were not good enough to match the intensity that this kind of games require,” Maresca said.
“We concede two and then we try to react, but most of the time in football when you are 2-0 down it’s too late.”
Maresca had made a strong start after replacing Pep Guardiola, winning his first seven Premier League matches in charge. But City have now suffered three straight league defeats.
The club also faces uncertainty over its future after being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules. City could face a major points deduction unless they successfully appeal the verdict.
For Forest, the victory brought relief after a difficult start under Oliver Glasner.
“I think everybody felt huge happiness but also relief,” Glasner said.
“It can be a turning point but we have to prove it.”
The win lifted Forest out of the relegation zone and pushed Manchester United into the bottom three ahead of their match against Aston Villa.
