Man City celebrations speak volumes at Forest amid Rayan Cherki chant

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Manchester City celebrated a big victory at Nottingham Forest as the Blues recovered from being pegged back to find a late winner

Pep Guardiola's greatest gifts this year may have arrived in the summer rather than Christmas Day. Days after a very bad day for turkey, Rayan Cherki was the matchwinner again as the Blues took three points home with them from one of their toughest away games of the season.

This felt like a big win - and was celebrated like a big win. Long after the officials and Forest players had left the pitch, Guardiola was stood in front of the away end conducting the supporters as Erling Haaland and several others threw their shirts into the stand as City kept the pressure on Arsenal at the very top of the league.

Pressure was the word of the day. It was something that wasn't really even present in this fixture last year when City still found a way to self-destruct, and it was all around this lunchtime fixture as the Premier League showcased again how difficult every game can be.

Wave after wave of Forest pressure came in the first half, with the crowd up in arms every time Josko Gvardiol or Ruben Dias shouldered theirs to take on Igor Jesus and Sean Dyche constantly asking his players to keep the screw turned. It made for an ugly half for City, who struggled to keep the ball and needed some exceptional dribbling abilities from everyone from Cherki to Gvardiol to get out of some sticky situations.

When the half-time whistle allowed City to come up for air though, they really had done well. Any feeling of Forest causing them problems wasn't reflected in the stats, with an expected goals for the home side of 0.04 and Gianluigi Donnarumma not having to make a save.

Within three minutes of the second half, the struggle was all validated as Tijjani Reijnders ran away celebrating in front of the away supporters. His run was perfect onto Cherki's short ball and the finish was as good to pounce on a rare bit of time to play the ball.

Guardiola pointed straight at Pep Lijnders as soon as the ball went in, crediting his assistant with the work that produced the goal. Not for the first time this season, it hadn't just been the new players in the team that had made the difference.

That hard work was undone minutes later though when there was too much room behind the defence to allow Morgan Gibbs-White to play in Igor Jesus and the forward crossed for Omari Hutchinson to hammer home. A Forest crowd furious at perceived injustices from the officials now had something to cheer instead.

Forest tails were up but City hung on in there and kept chipping away looking for a winner of their own. Foden was unlucky to have a shot in the box saved really well by the goalkeeper, and then - in the final 10 minutes - swung over a corner that Gvardiol headed back for Cherki to smash through a sea of bodies.

The City fans had already sung Cherki's name as he went to take a corner, and it was only louder after the goal. That chant was aired long after the final whistle as the Blues serenaded their latest hero.

Whether it is Cherki, Lijnders, Reijnders or anyone else that has arrived to improve City in 2025, Guardiola is grateful for all of the gifts as he turns his attention to silverware before the end of the season.