Pep Guardiola said his side of Manchester City has “10 finals” left in their search to finish in the top four after being defeated on Saturday in Nottingham Forest.
Guardiola watched while Callum Hudson-Odoi scored the only goal seven minutes from time to relocate Nuno Espirito Santo's side four points of the city.
The citizens have now lost nine Premier League matches this season, their joint campaign under Guardiola (also nine in 2019-20 -20).
They also did not score in four top matches in 2024-25, only in 2016-17 (five) did they do this more often under the Spaniard.
City could stop from the top four if Chelsea Leicester City would beat on Sunday, with Newcastle United and Bournemouth also at a striking distance.
The side of Guardiola is confronted with Manchester United, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Brighton in their last 10 games of the season, and the city boss recognized the importance of being perfect in their run-in.
“We have 10 games to be eligible, we have to win games to qualify and we will continue to the next,” said Guardiola.
“We knew that the game would be difficult. Every season the Premier League gets better and better. We have 10 finals and the next one we start.”
According to the simulations of Opta, City finished 77.3% of those results in the top four.
Full -time | Loss.
1-0 #Mancity | @okx pic.twitter.com/HL4BTJWDSA
– Manchester City (@Mancity) March 8, 2025
City ended the game with an expected goals (XG) in total only 0.85 of their 14 shots, but could have slid away a point, but Mateo Kovacic could only shoot wide.
Forest kept their 12th clean leaf of the season in the Premier League and their eighth victory over the city, with only Liverpool (10) with a better home record.
And Guardiola emphasized the difficulty in playing away by Nuno, but said that his team should have been more clinical for the goal at the vital moments.
“We have checked the long balls [Chris] Wood and second balls in transition. But in the second half we lost once in the transition and Hudson-Odoi really finished well, “he added.
“It is not easy to play against them. That's why they are where they are. We had three or four chances in the first half. In the second half it was a bit tight.
“We admitted one chance in the nearby pole, so in the end the balance was for them.”