Nottingham Forest's Callum Hudson-Odoi celebrates scoring their first goal.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Nottingham: Nottingham Forest's Callum Hudson-Odoi struck late to give his side a 1-0 home win over Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday and boost their chances of a top-four finish and prized place in next year's Champions League.
The 24-year-old winger picked up a glorious diagonal pass from Morgan Gibbs-White before running into the box and driving the ball past City goalkeeper Ederson at his near post from a tight angle in the 83rd minute.
In a game of few chances, Pep Guardiola's visiting team came closest when Nico Gonzalez's long-range shot scraped the outside of the post in the first half, while Hudson-Odoi saw a curled effort pushed onto the woodwork by Ederson after the break.
"I’m absolutely buzzing with the goal," said Hudson-Odoi after his contribution secured Forest a first league win over Manchester City since 1997.
"We fought every battle, every ball and I’m happy we got the win for the fans. Look at the crowd, they’re amazing," he said as most of the 30,000 fans sang and danced at the final whistle in a sun-bathed City Ground beside the River Trent.
The result kept this season's surprise team Forest in third place on 51 points with 10 games left, putting them in a strong position to secure a spot in Europe's elite competition for the first time since the mid-1990s.
Last year's Premier League champions City are fourth on 47 points, with Chelsea and Newcastle United breathing down their necks on 46 and 44 points respectively before their matches.