Manchester Metropolis fell two factors behind Premier League leaders Arsenal after being held to a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Arsenal left it very late to beat Aston Villa 4-2 earlier on Saturday and climbed again to the highest of the standings, placing stress on Metropolis to earn victory at Forest, with the guests beginning the encounter at a blistering tempo.
Metropolis dominated possession and deservedly took the lead 4 minutes earlier than the break with Bernardo Silva slamming the ball into the web from the sting of the field.
The guests ought to have doubled their benefit halfway by means of the second half however the often deadly Erling Haaland hit the crossbar from shut vary earlier than blazing the rebound excessive.
That miss proved pivotal as, out of nowhere, Forest’s January signing Chris Wooden tapped residence on the far submit to stage six minutes from time and carry the roof off a humid Metropolis Floor.
The champions threw every thing at Forest looking for a dramatic late winner however they may not break the hosts’ resistance, leaving Metropolis two factors behind Arsenal having performed one recreation extra. Forest climbed to thirteenth.
Metropolis beat Arsenal on the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday to pull themselves again to the highest of the standings after having trailed the Londoners for a lot of the season.
Victory over Forest, whom they beat 6-0 within the reverse fixture earlier within the season, was anticipated, with the one draw back in a powerful first-half show being that Metropolis had been unable to attain greater than as soon as to make their dominance rely.
Haaland, eyeing a thirty third objective in all competitions in his outstanding debut season in England, needed to await his second, however his wastefulness ended up costing Metropolis all three factors.
The Norwegian appeared odds on to seek out the web after his personal effort got here again to him off the crossbar however he bought beneath the rebound effort and put the ball into the stands.
Wooden’s first objective for Forest since becoming a member of from Newcastle United on mortgage couldn’t have been higher timed, incomes his aspect a worthwhile level of their battle to remain within the Premier League and damaging Metropolis’s title tilt within the course of.
Metropolis did not beat a newly-promoted aspect within the prime flight for the primary time since April 2021 after they misplaced to Leeds United — that they had received 9 such video games in a row earlier than Saturday’s draw.
Struggling Southampton seize very important 1-0 win at goal-shy Chelsea
A trademark James Ward-Prowse free kick earned basement membership Southampton a valuable three factors at Chelsea in a scrappy 1-0 Premier League win on Saturday and piled extra stress on residence coach Graham Potter.
Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta introduced down Stuart Armstrong simply outdoors the realm within the forty fifth minute and Ward-Prowse curled a free kick over the wall into the right-hand aspect of the web with goalkeeper Kepa left sprawling.Azpilicueta wanted practically 10 minutes of therapy on the pitch within the second half after he acquired a kick to the pinnacle in a goalmouth conflict. Physios from each golf equipment rushed to his assist and the Spaniard was finally carried off on a stretcher.
Ward-Prowse stated scoring and successful was an “superb feeling”.
“The sport was clearly overshadowed a bit by the damage to Cesar and we want our greatest to him. We hope he’s okay.”
Chelsea, who’ve scored solely 4 targets in 10 video games in all competitions for the reason that begin of the 12 months, appeared livelier within the second half when Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz got here on they usually stored the Southampton defence beneath stress.