Man City drop precious points in title race with shocking 2-2 draw with Forest
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MANCHESTER, England, March 4 : Nottingham Forest's Elliott Anderson struck a late equaliser to shock Manchester City with a 2-2 draw on Wednesday, a result that left Pep Guardiola's side dropping precious points in the Premier League title race.
Second-placed City were left frustrated after failing to see out a match they had largely controlled and they now trail leaders Arsenal by seven points after 29 games - although they have a game in hand over the Gunners. Forest are hovering just above the drop zone in 17th with 28 points.
"Disappointed with the result," said City boss Guardiola, whose side twice let leads slip away. "We did everything again, we didn't concede much and we had the chances at the end especially, but yeah, keep going."
Antoine Semenyo put City on the scoresheet in the 31st minute when he volleyed home Rayan Cherki's cross from the centre of the box for his seventh goal in 12 games since arriving at the club in January.
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Morgan Gibbs-White had a couple of great chances before he finally equalised in the 56th minute with a stunning back-heeled shot from close range through the legs of Ruben Dias and in at the near post past the outstretched hands of Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Rodri celebrated what he thought was the winner when he headed home from a corner in the 62nd minute for his first Premier League goal of the season.
But Anderson had the visiting fans in raptures in the 76th minute when he curled a strike from 25 yards out past Donnarumma.
City had 21 shots to Forest's nine, and in a final frantic few minutes, fans at Etihad Stadium yelled "shoot!" every time a City player got near the net.
They obliged. City's Savinho had the final kick of the game with a close-range shot that looked headed for the gaping net before defender Murillo cleared it off the line.
Asked if he thought Savinho's shot was going in, Guardiola could only shake his head and say "Yeah."
City fans screamed for penalties a couple of times during the game. Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels clattered into City's league-leading scorer Erling Haaland, who was back after missing Saturday's 1-0 victory at Leeds United with an injury, in the box in the second half.
And then in injury time, Rodri stabbed a shot wide of the net, and was hit in the leg in the process.
VAR checks ruled no penalty on both.
Semenyo had a chance to secure City all three points deep into injury time when he launched a free kick but Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels tipped the ball over the bar.
Forest also missed an opportunity to score a late winner after Ryan Yates met Anderson's corner at the near post but launched the ball just wide.
"A tough game, but with a lot of personality from my team," Forest boss Vitor Pereira said. "It's important too, to come here and to prove ourselves that we can get points everywhere ... we can play good football and we can get points."
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