Nottingham Forest add to Man City s woes with late 1 0 victory

LONDON – Nottingham Forest dealt a major blow to Manchester City’s bid to qualify for the Champions League on March 8, as Callum Hudson-Odoi’s late winner sealed a 1-0 English Premier League win in their top-four showdown.

City have been reduced to battling for a place in next season’s Champions League after a dismal campaign. Even that usually routine target is far from assured for Pep Guardiola’s men after their ninth league defeat this term.

Forest’s big win at home, meanwhile, meant they remain in third place on 51 points, three behind second-placed Arsenal who travel to Manchester United on March 9.

“You could see how energetic we were, we fought every battle,” said Hudson-Odoi to TNT Sports.

“I’m happy we got the win for the crowd. Look at them, it’s amazing. We appreciate it and try to do our best every game for them. Every game we play is difficult. We have to fight every single game, we worked hard and deserved it.

“We’re buzzing but we recover and go again next week... we believe in them (the fans) and they believe in us.”

Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo was thrilled with the victory.

Asked what he was most pleased with, he said: “The organisation, the resilience, we know how hard it is to play City.

“We have shown a big improvement from last season but now is about enjoying the moment. We are in a good place, the fans are happy and we keep going on this journey. We take it game by game.”

With six titles in the past seven seasons, City have rarely had to worry about their place in the Premier League’s top four in the Guardiola era. Yet they left the City Ground looking anxiously over their shoulders after a first league loss to