Guardiola: The Premier League gets tougher every year (1:52)Pep Guardiola discusses the quality of the Premier League as his team prepare to face their next opponents. (1:52)
MANCHESTER, England — Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson could be Manchester City players next season.
And if they turn up at the City Football Academy over the summer, they might have to keep their heads down for a couple of days. Goals from the Nottingham Forest pair earned a surprise 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday and dealt a hammer blow to the title hopes of their potential future teammates.
Coupled with Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion, the gap at the top is up to seven points. Gibbs-White and Anderson — both City targets ahead of the next transfer window — won’t care.
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Forest are fighting their own battle at the other end of the table and a valuable point keeps them just above the relegation places. Anything less and they would have ended the day in the bottom three courtesy of West Ham United’s 1-0 win at Fulham.
It was a draw which prompted very different reactions from the two managers, Pep Guardiola and Vitor Pereira.
“Sometimes I speak, sometimes I don’t,” said Guardiola at the end of a short and sharp post-match news conference. “Today it is not necessary. Tomorrow we will see.”
Pereira, obviously, was much more upbeat after winning his first Premier League point since taking over from Sean Dyche. “It was a tough game, but with a lot of personality by my team,” he said. “Quality, organisation and less one day [than City] to recover.
“I’m happy with my players. Fantastic goals, two fantastic goals. We proved to ourselves that we can get points everywhere.”
As good as City’s recent results have been, you could argue that something like this has been coming. This isn’t a Guardiola team that can steamroll the opposition. The reverse fixture against Forest at the City Ground in December ended 2-1 in City’s favor. Their last two wins against Newcastle United and Leeds United were also decided by a single goal.
Nearly 40% of their Premier League victories this season have been achieved with a one-goal margin. It’s Manchester City’s highest proportion of single-goal victories since the 2012-13 campaign, when it was more than 50%.
When the margins are that fine, it’s hard to end up on the right side time and time again and against Forest, City came unstuck. They took the lead through Antoine Semenyo in the first half only to be pegged back by a moment of wonderful improvisation from Gibbs-White.
Ola Aina’s deep cross was headed back inside by Igor Jesus and, with nowhere to go and Rúben Dias pinned against his back, Gibbs-White back-heeled his finish past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
“He has a lot of quality. He smells the spaces and the opportunities and scored a beautiful goal. He has the character we need. He’s a fighter and this is the spirit I want to see in my team.”
If that made Hugo Viana — City’s director of football — take note, then Anderson wasn’t to be outdone. After Rodri made it 2-1 with a header from Rayan Aït-Nouri’s corner, the England midfielder exchanged a neat one-two with Callum Hudson-Odoi and whipped his finish into the corner.
It was enough to ensure Forest avoided defeat in a league game at City for the first time in nearly 30 years.
“Elliot, I thought okay, maybe with 60 or 70 minutes I need to do the substitution because I don’t believe he will have the energy to play in the intensity we need here,” said Pereira.
Anderson was also part of a stubborn defensive effort from Forest, which prevented City from snatching the points late on. City wanted two penalties — one for a challenge from Matz Sels on Erling Haaland and another for an Anderson challenge on Rodri — but got neither.
Savinho had a golden chance with the last kick of the game, only to see his effort cleared off the line by Murillo. Asked afterwards what his team could have done better, Guardiola replied bluntly: “Score goals.”
It should be more concerning to Guardiola that City have now dropped 13 points from winning positions this season. Since the turn of the year, they’ve led against Chelsea, Brighton, Tottenham Hotspur and Forest and taken just four points from a possible 12.
“In general, we analyse, and it was a good performance — many, many good things. Of course, there are things we can improve in some departments.”
Improvement in the summer might come in the form of Gibbs-White and Anderson. Still in the red of Forest now, they’ve put a dent in City’s title bid and, with it, bolstered their own chances of staying up.
Guardiola: The Premier League gets tougher every year (1:52)Pep Guardiola discusses the quality of the Premier League as his team prepare to face their next opponents. (1:52)
Pep Guardiola discusses the quality of the Premier League as his team prepare to face their next opponents. (1:52)
“But in the end it was a surprise for me, until the end, he has a lot of energy and quality.”
With a game in hand and Arsenal visiting the Etihad in April, Guardiola is remaining optimistic.