Premier League Matchday 10: Three Key Takeaways as Man City Stumble
Premier League Matchday 10 began on Friday, November 6, with Everton defeating Coventry City 3-1 at home. It ended on Sunday with Manchester United and Aston Villa drawing a high-scoring, exciting 4-4.
Heading into the final international break of the year, Arsenal extended their Premier League lead to five points over second-place Brighton. Premier League Matchday 10 showed which teams head into the international break with momentum and which need to reset after disappointing results.
Premier League Matchday 10 delivered plenty of surprises, with some teams grabbing much-needed results and shaking up the table. From shocking results to a lot of drama, here are the biggest takeaways from Premier League Matchday 10.
Three Key Takeaways From Premier League Matchday 10 1. Manchester City Need A Reset After Upset Loss To Nottingham Forest Before Manchester City suffered their first Premier League loss of the season in Matchday 8, they were the league's last undefeated team, having won their first seven games and topped the table.
Fast forward to Premier League Matchday 10, and the Cityzens are in a major skid heading into the international break, having lost their last three matches. After their loss to Nottingham Forest on Premier League Matchday 10, Manchester City have fallen from first to third during this stretch and need to reset after the international break.
Heading into this game in Premier League Matchday 10, the Cityzens had a great opportunity to bounce back from back-to-back defeats in the last two matchdays as they faced a Nottingham Forest team in the relegation zone that hadn't won or scored a goal at home this season. Instead, Manchester City came out flat, conceded two goals in the first 20 minutes, and went into halftime down 2-0.
In the first half, the Cityzens made plenty of mistakes, as Josep Gvardiol lost the ball to Jair Cunha in their own half, allowing Forest to go on the counter with a two-man advantage before Jair scored the first goal. For the second goal, the midfield made a mess of a free kick through poor communication, allowing Xaver Schlager to steal it before passing to Liam Delap as Nottingham Forest went on the counter.
Delap ran down the field unchallenged before slotting it into the back of the net to double Nottingham Forest's advantage. Although Manchester City threatened to cut the deficit before halftime, they failed to convert any of their three shots on target, with an expected goals rate of 0.91.
This forced Enzo Maresca to overhaul his defence after halftime, as he took out Gvardiol and Marc Guehi and went more offensive. This tactical change seemed to work, as the Cityzens came out stronger in the second half, and Rayan Cherki scored in the 52nd minute to bring the team back into the game.