City Watch: Blues dealt top 4 blow

Another weekend of football and another unpredictable Manchester City performance has gone by.

As much as I and plenty of other City fans have enjoyed the success of recent years, it does feel nice to have an air of unpredictability to each performance and result every weekend.

City played this seasons dark horse, Nottingham Forest on Saturday, and it’s fair to say that despite a 3-0 win at the Etihad against Forest earlier on in the season, my expectations weren’t high at all, given their incredible year. Nuno Espirito Santo has guided the North Midlands club to a potential top four finish. With so many big clubs other than City tripping over themselves this season, Nuno has grabbed the opportunity with two hands.

Not only this, but they will also join City in the quarter final of the FA cup later this month, and with all the ‘top six’ teams out of it already, Champions League football for next season and a trophy doesn’t seem out of reach. All of this combined was surely the recipe for a fantastic game, with the winner claiming a victory in the race for the top four.

City dominated large parts of the game, restricting Forest to only counter attacks. The blues wasted some really good chances in the first half, leaving it wide open and for the taking in the second half. Much of the same continued, and it was only inevitable that with so many missed opportunities and domination, that Forest capitalised off a quick counter attack in the 83rd minute with Callum Hudson-Odoi beating Ederson at his near post, a shot he really should’ve saved.

Another disappointing result and a huge dent in the top four hopes for Manchester City. The good news is the only properly difficult game we have left to play is Manchester United at Old Trafford, which, let’s be honest, isn’t the task it used to be based on their current form. Our next game is against Brighton at the Etihad on Saturday before the international break, let’s hope we can go into the England games off the back of a big win.