Nottingham Forest earned themselves a point at the Etihad Stadium, but Savinho came close to finding a winner for Manchester City at the very end of the game.
Manchester City were left searching for a late equaliser after twice losing their lead against Nottingham Forest.
Antoine Semenyo’s first half strike was cancelled out by a Morgan Gibbs-White backheel, while Rodri’s header was followed by a long range effort from Elliot Anderson.
This left City needing another goal and it looked like this was about to be achieved right at the very end of the match.
Savinho received the ball after a scrappy moment between the two teams and he shot from close range, but Murillo made a goal-line clearance to keep the score at 2-2.
Pep Guardiola defends Savinho after wasted Manchester City chance
Although Savinho’s effort was on target, he could have attempted to get more direction on it rather than shooting striaght at the defender and passing to Erling Haaland was also an option.
However, Pep Guardiola has sought to defend the winger by saying his intention was always to try and score.
An absolutely incredible block from Murillo to help Nottingham Forest secure a point away at Manchester City 🤯@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/4hlHKELb4D
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 4, 2026
The Man City manager was asked by a journalist: “When you have that chance right at the end with Savinho and the goal-line clearance, are you thinking it’s in? Do you expect that to be a goal?”
Guardiola responded: “Uh, yeah. It’s obvious, right? He wants to score, huh?”
As the journalist attempted to respond, Guardiola added: “He wants to score, right? Yeah, he wants to score. And Rodri wants to score, and Erling [Haaland] wants to arrive. And, yeah.”
Man City should not be relying on last minute winners
The previous two games against Newcastle and Leeds respectively were already close calls and this should not have been happening again so soon.
Nottingham Forest have been very poor in the Premier League this season and City should not have even required a goal in the dying moments of the game in order to secure a victory.
Perhaps Savinho should have scored, but ultimately there were much bigger problems with Man City’s display and it could have just cost them dearly in the Premier League title race.
