Manchester City 2-2 Nottingham Forest: Semenyo 31, Rodri 62; Gibbs-White 56, Anderson 76
At one point in this game Manchester City led 1-0 and were firmly at Arsenal’s heels in their pursuit of the title, while Nottingham Forest sank into the relegation places as West Ham led at Fulham.
Such is the contrasting nature of these two sides’ fortunes. Yet at full time, after England’s midfield talent Elliot Anderson had provided the inspiration to pull his side back, the two teams were equal, sharing a point.
What that point will mean for either side come the end of the season is unclear, but City may in the coming weeks look to this game as the day they lost the title race to Arsenal, while this point may just be the vital one that saves Forest from the deleterious drop.
City had led twice on the night but Forest produced a stirring second-half fightback to snatch a 2-2 draw at a stunned Etihad Stadium, Elliot Anderson’s sublime 76th-minute curling shot the pick of the lot. Pep Guardiola’s side are now seven points behind the Gunners.
They still have a game in hand, but before this tie it was the case that City had their fate in their own hands and winning all their games would guarantee the title. That is no longer the case.
What Elliot said. 👊 pic.twitter.com/5x6PlMDTjT
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) March 4, 2026
The home side had their momentum back when Rodri rose highest to meet Rayan Ait-Nouri’s corner just after the hour, seemingly grabbing what would have been a precious victory. But that advantage lasted just 14 minutes as Anderson drove in, exchanged passes with teammate Callum Hudson-Odoi, before bending his shot around Marc Guehi and past Gianluigi Donnarumma from the edge of the box.
Anderson’s brilliant effort came exactly ten minutes after Morgan Gibbs-White had cancelled out Antoine Semenyo’s first-half opener, completing a second turnaround for Forest. Perhaps they might just stay up.
Erling Haaland was back for City and Phil Foden made his first league start in three games, but it was City’s man-of-the-moment Semenyo who provided the breakthrough after the half hour.
Rayan Cherki magicked his way down the right before delivering a cross that Semenyo met one time for his sixth goal in 12 appearances for City. It was well deserved and by the break it was difficult to see how Forest could be back in it. So little had they offered.
It was business as usual in the second half as Bernardo Silva forced a sharp save from Matz Sels, the Forest goalkeeper tipping away a curling effort destined for the bottom corner. But then Forest hit back against the run of play after Ola Aina, outpacing Ait-Nouri down the right, delivered to the far post where Igor Jesus headed back across goal. Gibbs-White had missed it, but then the midfielder improvised cheekily, striking the ball with a backheel that wrong-footed both Ruben Dias and Donnarumma.
Game on but City responded emphatically. Ait-Nouri’s corner from the left found Rodri and his powerful header seemed to be leading City towards an important victory. Anderson had other ideas.
