In-form Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been left to rue the day after missing two incredible sitters in his side’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.
City inflicted a devastating 3-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday, with Pep Guardiola’s men climbing top of the league table at the time.
However, Arsenal overtook City once again in the table with their sensational 4-2 comeback win over Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday.
The Gunners are now two points clear and have a Premier League match in hand over City, who dropped costly points on their away trip to City Ground.
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Bernardo Silva fired City into a first-half lead, but New Zealand striker Chris Wood rescued a point for Forest on Saturday with six minutes of regular time to play.
Before Wood’s equaliser, however, City could have doubled their lead after Haaland was presented with two clear-cut chances to score against Forest.
Phil Foden saw his long-range strike stopped by Keylor Navas, only for the ball to ricochet into the path of Haaland after the Forest ‘keeper failed to hold on to it.
Haaland fired a first-time volley into the pitch hard and the ball smashed off the crossbar as a helpless Navas scrambled to his feet.
The 22-year-old Norwegian attempted to control the loose ball with his first touch before unleashing a wicked shot, with Haaland failing to find the back of the net.
Speaking after the match, Guardiola insisted that City only “have to blame ourselves” for the draw after failing to capitalise on their goalscoring chances.
“It was a brilliant performance, we played really good but we didn’t score,” he said.
“At this level, you have to score and that is why we dropped points.
“The first half should already be 2-0 or 3-0, we conceded one shot on target and we dropped points. We are sad and disappointed but the way we played was really good.
“We missed the chances we missed because today was not our day to win the game.
“We missed goals that were one metre to the goalkeeper, not just one, a few. That is why we didn’t win. What can I say?
“We played a really good game. We missed the second goal and then after the second the third would have arrived. We have to look at ourselves, we can do better.
“Today, we missed too many chances. It happens in football. Today, we were much better than the opponent but we have to score goals. We didn’t do it so we have to blame ourselves.”
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Topics: Erling Haaland, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Premier League, England, Football
Adnan Riaz