LONDON — Manchester City suffered a third consecutive Premier League defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest on Saturday, allowing Arsenal to stretch their lead at the top of the table to six points.
Oliver Glasner’s men had not scored at home at all this season, but pounced on City’s defensive errors to strike twice in the first 20 minutes through Jair Cunha and Delap.
Rayan Cherki’s stunning strike gave City hope, but their title challenge is rapidly wilting even before the potential effects of a major points deduction.
Delap sealed just Forest’s second win of the season with an incredible strike in off the post on the night that could launch his career for the two-time European champions, after a difficult start since his club-record £50 million ($67 million) move from Chelsea.
Defeat leaves City six points adrift of leaders Arsenal and with questions over whether the uncertainty surrounding the club is playing a part in their on-field slump.
Found guilty on over 100 Premier League charges of breaking financial rules, the 10-time English champions face a severe points penalty unless they can overturn that verdict on appeal.
Glasner warned his players he would make big changes after a disappointing start to his reign saw them start the match in the bottom three.
The Austrian got the response he craved as Forest burst out of the blocks to pounce on City’s sloppiness at the back.
Clinical Forest
Cunha robbed Josko Gvardiol midway inside the City half and was allowed to bear down on goal before slotting past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Forest’s first home goal in 511 minutes was celebrated wildly at the City Ground with owner Evangelos Marinakis jumping out of his chair in celebration, AFP reported.
Elliott Anderson had a night to forget on his first return to Forest since a reported £116 million move to City.
Xaver Schlager beat Anderson to the ball in midfield and set Delap running from inside his own half before unleashing an unstoppable drive past Donnarumma for his first home goal for the club.
Maresca became the first Premier League manager to win his first seven games in charge of a new club in a blistering start to the daunting task of succeeding Pep Guardiola.
However, he has been hit with the task of trying to keep his players motivated when they do not know if they will even be in the English top-flight next season.
Maresca showed his frustration with a double change at half-time with the introduction of Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes helping to spark a brief City rally.
Cherki smashed home a sweet strike from Jeremy Doku’s deflected cross to halve the arrears.
Erling Haaland then nearly levelled when the Norwegian flashed a shot just wide.
City, though, remained vulnerable to the Forest counter-attack and were picked off again for the decisive goal 15 minutes from time.
Morgan Gibbs-White fed Delap who drilled another brilliant finish past the helpless Donnarumma, this time on his left foot.
The only crumb of comfort for City is that Forest’s victory dumps Manchester United into the relegation zone ahead of their clash against Aston Villa on Sunday.
