Liam Delap leads Nottingham Forest upset as Manchester City lose again

Nottingham Forest beat Manchester City 3-1 in Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City, and Liam Delap was the decisive figure. The former City forward scored twice, posted an 8.7 rating, rounded from 8.67, and drove the biggest moments in a result that also extended City's league slump to three straight defeats. Forest got there with an early start, a clinical finisher and just enough calm after City's brief push back.

Delap decided the game

The tone was set quickly. Jair scored in the 6th minute to put Forest ahead, and Delap doubled the lead in the 18th.

That already changed the feel of the afternoon, but Delap was not done. His second goal is widely put down as coming in the 73rd minute, even if some descriptions of the move differ slightly. The important part is not really the timestamp, it is that he finished the match off.

Forest needed that kind of centre-forward display. Delap now has 3 Premier League goals in 9 appearances this season, and this was easily his biggest afternoon so far. Against his old club, he looked like the one attacker who had a clear read of where the game was going.

A Bola, in comments translated from Portuguese, summed it up this way: "Glasner’s team had been on a run of five games without a win, with four defeats, and had still not scored at home this season. Liam Delap, developed by the 'citizens', was the hero".

That quote is dramatic, but the match events support it. Forest had the early lead, Delap gave them breathing room, and then gave them the result.

Cherki replied, City did not recover

Rayan Cherki produced City's one real moment of quality in front of goal when he scored in the 52nd minute with a superb strike. He ended up with a 7.18 rating, the best attacking return for City on the day, but there was not enough around him.

This was not a game where City lacked names. Morgan Gibbs-White and Xaver Schlager are both part of the match detail around a game that had enough individual quality on the pitch. The bigger issue for City was that Forest were more direct in the key moments and far more efficient when the chances arrived.

City remain second in the verified league position attached to this result, but the defeat still deepens the pressure. Three straight Premier League losses is the part they cannot soften. It turns a surprise result into a trend.

Forest's updated league position is less clean. One report said Oliver Glasner's side moved back up to 16th, while the pre-match standing confirmed them in 19th before kick-off. What is clear is that this was a major lift near the bottom and their most important home result of the season so far.

Delap will take the attention because braces against a former club tend to do that. In this case he earned it. Forest beat City 3-1, Jair struck first, Cherki answered briefly, and Delap finished the job.