Liam Delap Stars as Nottingham Forest Beats Manchester City 3-1

Manchester City suffered its third Premier League defeat after falling 3–1 to Nottingham Forest at City Ground on November 7, 2026. The loss leaves City six points behind league leaders Arsenal following earlier defeats against Aston Villa and Brighton. Erling Haaland played in the match for City, which came into the fixture lying second in the table while Nottingham sat second from bottom before the tenth round of matches. Nottingham entered the encounter having broken a tough streak of five matches without a win, while City deployed a starting lineup featuring Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Guéhi, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernández, Ndiaye, Cherki, Doku, and Haaland.

Dröstart and Early Goals for Forest

The match began poorly for Manchester City when Josko Gvardiol struggled with the ball, allowing Jair Cunha to score the opening goal for the home side in the sixth minute. Nottingham extended its lead shortly after when Liam Delap, a former Manchester City academy player who belonged to the Manchester club until 2024 and later spent time at Ipswich and Chelsea before arriving as an expensive summer acquisition for Nottingham, surged forward and netted the second goal in the 18th minute by blasting it into the roof of the net.

Delap Seals Victory in the Second Half

Manchester City attempted a comeback early in the second half when Rayan Cherki scored with a half-volley to reduce the deficit to 2–1, prompting Smith to call it a brilliant half-volley better than anything else that weekend from a player technically with hardly any peer. However, Nottingham secured the victory with less than fifteen minutes remaining when Morgan Gibbs-White combined with Delap on a counterattack. Delap broke away and finished with a hard left-footed shot off the post for his second goal of the match, celebrating in the style of Cristiano Ronaldo. Sky Sports reporter Adam Bate praised the unbelievable and beautiful finish amid a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium, while Smith called it the biggest and completely spectacular moment of Delap’s career.

Nottingham Forest Escapes Relegation Zone with Victory

The victory lifts Nottingham Forest up to the 16th position in the table and pushes the team away from the relegation zone. City continues to lose ground in the title race as Arsenal maintains its six-point advantage at the top of the table, having defeated Hull 1–0 earlier on Saturday.