Nottingham Forest 0-2 Man City: Player ratings as Cityzens reach FA Cup final
Nottingham Forest 0-2 Man City: Player ratings as Cityzens reach FA Cup final
- Manchester City to meet Crystal Palace in FA Cup final after beating Nottingham Forest 2-0
- Rico Lewis opened the scoring inside two minutes
- Josko Gvardiol doubled City’s lead at start of second-half
By James Cormack | 6:35 PM GMT+1
Manchester City will face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final next month after beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Wembley on Sunday afternoon.
Rico Lewis got the Cityzens off to the perfect start, as he received Mateo Kovacic’s pass on the edge of the Forest box and fired past Matz Sels to open the scoring not even two minutes into the contest.
Guardiola’s side were superb in the opening exchanges, asserting all-out control. Nottingham Forest were limited on the counter-attack, and struggled to recover from their early setback. However, a lack of clear-cut City openings after they went in front meant Forest were just a goal behind at half-time.
Substitute Anthony Elanga should’ve restored parity immediately after entering the fray, but he placed his first-time effort from Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross wide. City then made the Swedish international pay for his big miss by doubling their advantage through a Josko Gvardiol header.
Forest had a mountain to climb, but they refused to surrender on their rare Wembley day out. They came close on several occasions to halving the deficit, with Morgan Gibbs-White twice hitting the woodwork before Taiwo Awoniyi crashed an effort against the post.
The fine margins were in City’s favour, and Forest’s misfortune in front of goal allowed Guardiola’s side to play out the final few minutes with some comfort.
Nottingham Forest player ratings (4-4-2)
|
Player |
Rating |
|---|---|
|
GK: Matz Sels |
6.5/10 |
|
RB: Zach Abbott |
6.2/10 |
|
CB: Nikola Milenkovic |
6.7/10 |
|
CB: Murillo |
6.5/10 |
|
LB: Harry Toffolo |
6.3/10 |
|
RM: Morgan Gibbs-White |
7.3/10 |
|
CM: Danilo |
6.1/10 |
|
CM: Nicolas Dominguez |
7.2/10 |
|
LM: Elliott Anderson |
6.7/10 |
|
ST: Callum Hudson-Odoi |
7.0/10 |
|
ST: Chris Wood |
6.5/10 |
|
SUB: Anthony Elanga (46′ for Danilo) |
7.0/10 |
|
SUB: Ibrahim Sangare (71′ for Anderson) |
6.2/10 |
|
SUB: Taiwo Awoniyi (71′ for Wood) |
6.3/10 |
|
SUB: Jota Silva (83′ for Dominguez) |
6.6/10 |
|
SUB: Ramon Sosa (83′ for Abbott) |
5.9/10 |
Subs not used: Carlos Miguel (GK), Morata, Alex Moreno, Willy Boly.
Man City player ratings (4-2-4)
|
Player |
Rating |
|---|---|
|
GK: Stefan Ortega |
8.0/10 |
|
RB: Matheus Nunes |
6.9/10 |
|
CB: Ruben Dias |
7.9/10 |
|
CB: Josko Gvardiol |
7.9/10 |
|
LB: Nico O’Reilly |
7.1/10 |
|
CM: Mateo Kovacic |
8.5/10 |
|
CM: Bernardo Silva |
6.5/10 |
|
RW: Savinho |
6.8/10 |
|
AM: Rico Lewis |
7.7/10 |
|
AM: Jack Grealish |
6.7/10 |
|
LW: Omar Marmoush |
7.7/10 |
|
SUB: Ilkay Gundogan (71′ for Grealish) |
6.2/10 |
|
SUB: Jeremy Doku (78′ for Savinho) |
6.0/10 |
|
SUB: Phil Foden (78′ for Marmoush) |
5.8/10 |
|
SUB: Nico Gonzalez (89′ for Kovacic) |
6.1/10 |
Subs not used: Ederson (GK), Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Manuel Akanji, Kevin De Bruyne.
Player of the match – Mateo Kovacic (Man City)
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