Man City back temporarily to the top of Premier League after Nottingham Forest loses 1–2

Rayan Cherki sent Manchester City back to the top of the Premier League with a late winner against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

According to the BBC, Forest threatened to deal a blow to City’s title hopes after Omari Hutchinson cancelled out Tijjani Reijnders’ second-half opener.

However, Cherki struck late to maintain City’s ominous form, with Pep Guardiola’s side now winning eight consecutive matches in all competitions.

For a struggling Forest side, who paid an emotional tribute to club legend John Robertson, the defeat was a painful one.

It marked successive losses under Sean Dyche for the first time, following Monday’s 1–0 defeat away to Fulham.

Forest frustrated City throughout the first half, with Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic delivering standout defensive performances.

Their resistance was broken just three minutes into the second half when Reijnders calmly steered the ball past goalkeeper John Victor.

Yet Reijnders was at fault moments later, losing possession on the edge of his own penalty area. Morgan Gibbs-White capitalised, breaking forward and finding Igor Jesus, who teed up record signing Hutchinson to score his first goal for Forest.

City nearly regained the lead soon after when John Victor pushed Cherki’s effort onto the post before producing a sharp save to deny Phil Foden.

However, the Forest goalkeeper could do little in the 83rd minute when Cherki curled a precise strike from the edge of the box into the corner.

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