BY OUR MAN AT THE CITY GROUND
PEP GUARDIOLA might have left his Christmas tree at home, but he found a new star to sit on top of the Premier League pile in the form of Rayan Cherki.
On a raucous, mud-spattered afternoon at the City Ground, Manchester City survived a Nottingham Forest bear-pit to snatch a 2-1 win that was as ugly as it was essential. For 83 minutes, the famous old stadium on the banks of the River Trent shook to its foundations, threatening to swallow the champions whole. But Cherki—the man fast becoming City’s ultimate December cheat code—delivered the knockout blow to break Forest hearts.
There is no atmosphere in the top flight quite like a winter’s day in Nottingham, and the home faithful were in full voice, desperate to see Sean Dyche’s men claim a historic scalp.
For the first 45 minutes, it worked. The City Ground was a graveyard for City’s creativity; Erling Haaland was starved of service, and Phil Foden found himself suffocated by a Forest backline that treated every blade of grass like sacred soil.
The deadlock finally snapped three minutes after the restart. Cherki, buzzing like a hornet all afternoon, slipped a surgical pass through to Tijjani Reijnders, who silenced the home support with a cool finish.
But you don’t come to the City Ground for a quiet afternoon. The stadium erupted in the 54th minute when Forest’s own rising star, Omari Hutchinson, latched onto an Igor Jesus cross to smash home his first goal for the club.
The noise was deafening. Dyche’s “Tricky Trees” weren’t just hanging on; they were hunting. The home side looked the more likely to grab a winner as the game descended into “total chaos,” with Gianluigi Donnarumma forced into a string of desperate saves to keep the scores level.
With the clock ticking and the Forest fans sensing a famous point—or more—City showed why they are the masters of the late heist.
From a 83rd-minute corner, Josko Gvardiol rose highest to nod the ball into the path of Cherki.
The Frenchman didn’t hesitate, drilling a low volley through a forest of legs and past the helpless John Victor.
Sean Dyche was left fuming on the touchline, convinced Morgan Gibbs-White had been fouled in the build-up, but the referee was unmoved.
As the final whistle blew, City’s traveling fans celebrated a “massive” three points that sends them top of the table, while the City Ground was left to wonder how a performance of such grit ended with nothing.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Victor, Savona, Murillo, Milenkovic, Williams, Anderson, Dominguez, Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Hutchinson, Igor Jesus.
MAN CITY:
Donnarumma, Gvardiol, Dias, Akanji, Lewis, Reijnders, Kovacic, Foden, Cherki, Bernardo, Haaland.
