Micah Richards
Former Man City defender on BBC Match of the Day

I thought it was an interesting game. Man City dominated it, and this will be a big blow for them.

It was a game of many chances at Etihad Stadium - Manchester City had 21 shots on goal, but only seven on target, while Nottingham Forest found the target with four of their nine efforts on goal.

The key difference can be found in the Expected Goals (xG).

City managed two goals from an xG of 2.18, while Forest out-performed theirs, also adding two goals from an xG of 0.97.

Interestingly, Morgan Gibbs-White's back heel had an xG of 0.33, while Elliot Anderson's second equaliser for Forest had an xG of 0.04.

Shamoon Hafez
Football news reporter at Etihad Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City have blinked first in the Premier League title run-in as they stumbled to a draw against Nottingham Forest.

City led twice through Antoine Semenyo and Rodri against relegation-threatened Forest but failed to see out the game and now lie seven behind leaders Arsenal.

Guardiola's men have a game in hand against Crystal Palace but this could be a gameweek where the momentum and belief swings in the direction of Mikel Arteta's men.

City had 70% possession and 21 shots but their inability to hold on to a lead could prove crucial come May, as they have now dropped a whopping 13 points from winning positions this season.

To be fair to Manchester City, there was very little they could do to stop Nottingham Forest's two goals.

The first came from a cheeky back heel from Morgan Gibbs-White - another example of the creativity and opportunism that has made the England midfielder a man in demand.

And Forest needed a moment of brilliance from Elliot Anderson - another in-demand England midfielder - to earn their point.

Anderson gave Gianluigi Donnarumma in the City goal no chance as he curled the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box with 15 minutes to play.

City still had plenty of chances to win the game - including a strong penalty shout from Erling Haaland and a close-range effort from Savinho with the final kick of the game that was cleared off the line.

But it just wasn't their night.

Check out the full highlights below...

Ben Ramsdale
BBC Sport

That's the last of the Gunners, for now.

And while they got the job done on Wednesday evening, their nearest challengers Manchester City, did not.

Feel free to carry on having your say around all things Arsenal / dark arts / time wasting and the likes as we go but we'll bring you reaction from the Etihad Stadium now.

Image source, Getty Images

Seems like the perfect question to bring you an answer to before we move on...

Opta have been busy addressing all the drama this morning, so it seems, and they've dug out a corker of a statistic.

They say, taking all delays into account on Wednesday evening, Arsenal spent an average of 31.4 seconds to get the ball back into play from corners, goal kicks, throws and free-kicks vs Brighton. There have been 195 instances of a team taking longer than this in a Premier League match in 2025-26.

Their total of 59 delays, however, was the eighth highest total by a team in a Premier League match this season, while their total delay time was 1851 seconds - the 22nd highest by a team in a Premier League match in 2025-26.

John Cross
Daily Mirror Chief Football Writer on BBC Radio 5 Live

I think it's added to the sense that Arsenal are the pantomime villains as the team everyone else loves to hate.

I think it's been a bit unfair on Arsenal in the last month or so because they look like a team that's tired. They're certainly not playing at their best, nowhere near.

I think at points this season they've played really, really well and played like a team that is worthy of champions, and I'm thinking of maybe the second half against Bayern Munich or when they played brilliantly against Aston Villa and Tottenham twice.

It's unfair to cast them as the ugliest team in Premier League history as such. It almost feels like the moment to get it done because there's not much left in the tank.

John Cross
Daily Mirror Chief Football Writer on BBC Radio 5 Live

At times, it felt it was painful, it was ugly and it certainly prompted a war of words between the managers afterwards. Fabian Hurzeler didn't hold back on Arsenal's tactics and Mikel Arteta's dark arts that he's introduced into the Arsenal ranks.

A bit of time wasting and tactical fouls, Arsenal were pretty ugly last night but it's all about the result at the moment, and Arsenal got it.

Then to celebrate as Arsenal did with their fans in the away end, to suddenly realise Manchester City dropped two points as well it felt like a particularly pivotal night in the title race.

Image source, Getty Images

Danny Murphy
Former Liverpool midfielder on BBC Match of the Day

Arsenal were disappointing going forward. There was a lack of creativity. As little as I've seen in quite a while from Arsenal - credit to Brighton as well.

But there's this mentality with Arsenal all over the pitch to defend properly and recover and protect. They're physically good. They're strong, they're good aerially, quick, athletic.

That's elite mentality and a willingness to defend. And he creates that, Mikel Arteta, because he won't accept anything else.

Micah Richards
Former Man City defender on BBC Match of the Day

In terms of Arsenal and the way they set up, it's not just the back line, it's how they do it. And people have talked about Arsenal in terms of being boring, they can't win the league like this, but they're getting over the line and that is the difference at the moment.

I would say Man City play better football and take more risks, but Arsenal are defensively better.

14 clean sheets this season in 30 games, that's just brilliant.

It wasn't the best night with regard to performance level for Arsenal on Wednesday evening.

Brighton dominated the stats on the night from possession down to expected goals (xG) but the one the Seagulls didn't dominate? The goals column.

Are Arsenal displaying some of those vintage title winning results in recent weeks? Or will their luck run out?

Rob Green
Former West Ham goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live

Arsenal can keep playing badly and winning all they like. It's the others that are faltering. Manchester City are faltering. And you just look at this Arsenal side and how they go about winning games, they manage to just grind out results and that's all they've done tonight.

They've had a stroke of good fortune. There's not one player that can turn around and say they had a good game, except maybe Hincapie and maybe one or two others defensively.

They don't care, they won.

Arsenal

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta later came to the defence of his players during his post-match news conference.

When told about the comments of Pascal Gross and Fabian Hurzeler, Arteta said: "What a surprise.

"You just go back to the previous games and you'll find a lot of comments like this always.”

He added: "I think they love our players. I mean, every time they talk about our players, I think they are the most loved ones in the country.

"We look after our own garden."

Arsenal

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, speaking to TNT Sports: "This was a really difficult one after everything we've been through in the last few weeks.

"Every game in the Premier League offers you different things. Big credit to the boys because the effort they put in is astronomical."

On opening up a seven-point gap on Manchester City: "We did what we had to do and that is what we will continue to do."

Image source, Getty Images

Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton's Pascal Gross, speaking to TNT Sports: "Arsenal play for the title, they're very solid, not easy to score against. We created some half-chances. They didn't create much. When you go 1-0 down, it's always tough and we couldn't score. They played the game until the end."

On penalty shout: "I've not seen it back. When I go in the box, the way they defend on the edge, also with corners.

"From corners, they block us, they don't even watch the ball. That's how it is, but it's also why they keep a clean sheet. They defend strong and on the edge.

"It kills the rhythm. If you watch the games back, they're very good at doing it. They take time setting things up for themselves. It plays in their favour.

"Sometimes we missed the last pass or the finish. We need more belief that we can do it."