28/04/2025 16:25
Manchester City put their pursuit of Champions League football on standby this weekend for a trip to Wembley for the second FA cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, looking to make their third successive final appearance. Guardiola fielded a changed lineup with Ortega in goal. Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol and O’reilly in defence again. Lewis and Kovacic were in the midfield with Grealish, Savinho, and Marmoush in attack.
It didn’t take long for the Blues to get off to a flying start at all. After just a minute and a half of play, Kovacic charged towards the Forest defence and passed it to Lewis who took a shot from just outside the box and place it perfectly in the bottom corner to give City the lead early in the game. Just the start the Blues wanted. For the next 15 minutes Forest barely seemed to be able to get out of their own half with constant pressure from the Blues. A long shot from Marmoush was over the bar but nevertheless, the pressure continued.
Forest recovered slightly and continued to finally find some more possession but they didn’t have a great load of chances in the first half at all with the closest one being a ball through to Odoi who passed the ball into Wood but the chance was cleared away by Gvardiol. Odoi was then judged to be offside by the linesman. O’Reilly had another great game for City and almost had himself a goal in the first half after he turned away two players and then took an ambitious shot, but it was wide. After what had been a first half of relative control for City, they were well in the driving seat.
The second half was a different story in terms of Forest in attack and it turned out to be one with no luck for them at all. The first big chance they missed came in the 47th minute, when a ball went through straight to Elanga who looked certain to score but he fired wide, much to the relief of the Blues. Moments later up the other end, City looked certain to score but the chance was saved off the line by Sels after an attempt from Kovacic came off Zach Abbott and looked to be going in.
There was a potential penalty appeal after this block as the ball appeared to strike Abbott’s hands but it was waved off and in fact ultimately wouldn’t matter as the following corner swung in beautifully by Marmoush was met with the head of Gvardiol and it was in again for 2-0. The Blues were now in a very strong position for the remainder of the second half. A chance to make it 3 came moments after but the pass from Savinho didn’t find Marmoush.
The remainder of the second half was generally made up of more rotten luck for Nottingham Forest. A tenacious volley from Gibbs White rattled off the cross bar and then Gibbs White hit the post again after some miscommunication from Ortega and Gvardiol led to him having an almost open net but he couldn’t crack the tough angle. In the final few minutes before the 90 Forest would hit the bar yet again after City couldn’t clear a Forest free kick in the box but they eventually got the rebound away. It simply wasn’t Forest’s day.
The win was solidified when Doku picked up the ball in the midfield and ran and won a foul outside the box. The final whistle blew from a City throw in and the Blues are through to their third successive FA cup final. City will be looking to banish the demons of last year’s defeat against United and get some silverware out of an otherwise lacklustre season. They will be facing Crystal Palace in the final who put in an excellent performance against Aston Villa with a 3-0 win to book their spot in the final. Palace have reached the final twice before and lost on both occasions. They will be looking to finally win their first major trophy in history as underdogs
