Ola Aina was in his best element as he propelled Nottingham Forest to hand Brentford their first home defeat of the season.

Aina opened scoring in an eventual 2-0 defeat of Brentford who were unbeaten at home in 10 games in all competitions, which included nine victories, but the loss leaves them 12th in the standings with 23 points.

With Aina’s goal and an additional one by Anthony Elanga, Nottingham Forest will celebrate Christmas in the Premier League’s top four.

They are provisionally up to third position with 31 points.

“Most of the players were on the floor at the end. It’s difficult to come here,” Elanga said.

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Manchester United poured on the misery for flagging Premier League champions Manchester City as late goals by Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo snatched an unlikely 2-1 away victory from the jaws of defeat on Sunday.

Ruben Amorim’s first Manchester derby looked like ending in a third successive league defeat after Josko Gvardiol’s header put City ahead but Ivory Coast youngster Diallo tuned the game on its head in stunning fashion.

Diallo was fouled by City’s Matheus Nunes after latching onto a dreadful back pass by the same player with Fernandes stroking home the penalty in the 88th minute.

City had hardly got over that shock when seconds later it became the “Diallo Derby” as he sent the visiting fans into delirium with a superb finish from the tightest of angles.

What was initially a worrying slump in form by champions City has now snowballed into a full-on nightmare before Christmas for Pep Guardiola’s side as they have now lost eight of their last 11 games in all competitions, winning one.

They stay fifth in the table with 27 points from 16 games, nine points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.

United remain in the bottom half with 22 points but will hope their smash-and-grab raid at The Etihad Stadium will spark a move up the table during the festive period.

Fernandes breathed a sigh of relief after the game, having missed a gilt-edged chance to equalise shortly before Diallo lit the touch-paper for United’s stunning win.

“He’s been doing well, he’s been doing great things, I think there’s still a lot to come from him … When he’s like this, he’s unstoppable,” the Portuguese midfielder said.

City did not even muster a shot on target in the second half as they looked barely recognisable from the side that has won four successive Premier League crowns.

Midfielder Bernardo Silva made no attempt to sugar-coat a gut-wrenching loss.

“We totally deserved what happened,” he told Sky Sports. “In minute 87 in a derby and you are winning 1-0 and have a corner and the ball ends up as a penalty for them, if you make these stupid decisions you deserve to pay for that.”

BLEAK RESULTS

Neither side started the game brimming with any fluency after bleak recent results and United did not have a shot on target before the interval.

Amorim flexed his muscles ahead of kick-off, leaving Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho out of his matchday squad and he was then forced to make an early switch as Mason Mount hobbled off after 14 minutes to be replaced by Kobbie Mainoo.

It took 20 minutes for City to muster a shot at goal as Phil Foden’s half-volley went wide while at the other end Diallo struck the post with a shot but was offside anyway.

City’s fans were becoming restless but the tension lifted around the stadium in the 36th minute when, from a short corner, De Bruyne’s cross was deflected and dropped invitingly for Gvardiol to guide a header past Andre Onana.

It was the eighth goal United have conceded from a corner this season, a figure only topped by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Tempers boiled over soon afterwards as City’s Kyle Walker and Rasmus Hojland came together like two rutting stags and Walker fell theatrically to the ground, earning both players yellow cards after a melee involving several more.

City were strangely subdued after the break but still looked like taking the points, especially after Fernandes dinked a golden chance wide after being played through.

But City’s world collapsed around them when Nunes’s terrible back pass was seized upon by Diallo and Nunes desperately tried to make amends but merely hacked Diallo down.

Fernandes tucked away the penalty but worse was still to come for the hosts as Diallo sprinted through, cleverly dinked the ball around goalkeeper Ederson and then saw his shot dissect two covering defenders before nestling in the net.

“The second half, we pressed good, we wanted to win, this is the derby … we showed today we can win every game and we are very happy to win today,” said Diallo. “I want to thank God for this. Let’s enjoy it for today and focus on the next game.”

Reuters

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Riddled with anxiety about Manchester City’s shocking decline, Pep Guardiola will endure another sleepless night as he tries to pose more problems for Ruben Amorim in the Manchester United manager’s first taste of the Premier League’s most explosive rivalry.

For the first time in years, City go into the Manchester derby mired in even more turmoil than United after a dismal run of one win in 10 games in all competitions.

Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions League defeat at Juventus was City’s seventh loss in that period, an astonishing collapse for a club that has won six of the last seven Premier League titles, including their current streak of four in a row.

United are hardly in peak form themselves, having won just three of Amorim’s six games in charge since he replaced the sacked Erik ten Hag.

But Amorim has already inflicted one painful blow to Guardiola this season when his Sporting side crushed City 4-1 in the Champions League in Lisbon on November 5.

City squandered an early lead on that occasion, blown away by Viktor Gyokeres’ hat-trick as Amorim ruthlessly exposed the gaping holes in Guardiola’s ramshackle defence.

That chastening loss came just days before Amorim officially took charge at Old Trafford and Guardiola would love to exact avenge at the Etihad Stadium this weekend.

Whether Guardiola’s injury-plagued team, whose confidence appears to be in tatters, are in any shape to deliver a sixth win in their last seven league meetings with United is another matter.

The strain of the worst run of his glittering managerial career is taking a toll on Guardiola as well.

In an interview before the Juventus game, Guardiola said his state of mind was “ugly”, his sleep was “worse” and he was eating lighter as his digestion has suffered during City’s collapse.

On Friday, Guardiola, who recently signed a new two-year contract, insisted he was “fine” despite the stress.

‘In a better place than us ‘

“In our jobs we always want to do our best. When that doesn’t happen you are more uncomfortable than when the situation is going well,” said Guardiola, who could have just three fit defenders available on Sunday.

“In good moments I am happier but when I get to the next game I am still concerned about what I have to do.

“There is no human being that makes an activity and it doesn’t matter how they do.”

There is no question another loss to Amorim would be a huge blow for Guardiola, whose fourth-placed side are eight points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.

Yet Amorim has plenty of issues of his own to resolve after a rocky first month in Manchester featuring only one league victory in four matches.

United are languishing in 13th place after successive league losses to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest underlined the extent of the rebuilding job faced by Amorim.

They struggled to find any fluency in a nervy 2-1 victory at minnows Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League on Thursday.

Given United’s mediocrity before and since his arrival, Amorim is in no position to cast aspersions about City’s woes.

“I never think about these things. We will face a great opponent and I’m more focused on our problems, so we have a lot of issues here,” he said.

“I’m more focused on what we should do on Sunday to win the game, so I’m really focused on my team.”

And the 39-year-old believes City are capable of hitting back if United allow them to rediscover their rhythm amid the sound and fury of the derby.

“The great teams can respond in any moment. I think they are in a better place than us in the type of understanding the game,” he said.

“The way they play, the confidence they have. Even in these kind of moments.”

-AFP

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