Nathan Ake reveals Man City prepared for Nottingham Forest game by watching Tottenham v Arsenal

Manchester City’s players have fond memories of the City Ground from last season - but not from playing at Nottingham Forest’s famous, old ground.

In fact, Pep Guardiola’s side drew at the City Ground last season in a game that saw the eventual Premier League winners produce 23 shots and amass 73 percent of possession. Yet a late Chris Wood strike meant City could only manage a 1-1 draw 14 months ago.

It was a point more than Arsenal took from Nottingham last season though, and the Gunners’ 1-0 defeat against Forest on 20 May 2023 handed City a seventh Premier League title. Within minutes of the full-time whistle, videos emerged of City’s players celebrating the triumph at their training base, as they prepared for the following day’s game against Chelsea.

Players and managers often say they don’t pay attention to their rivals’ games but City’s Together: Treble Winners documentary put that myth to bed, as the six-part series showed Guardiola’s squad regularly tuning in to watch Arsenal matches throughout the campaign. 

Twelve months on, and the same teams are once again competing for top spot. This time around, there’s no point denying City are keeping an eye on Arsenal’s exploits.

“Obviously you see it, you know,” Nathan Ake said after City’s 2-0 win over Forest on Sunday, when asked if he was aware the Gunners had emerged victorious from the North-London derby. “As I said, obviously it would be nice if they dropped some points.

“We focus on ourselves and it’s in our hands. That’s the only thing we can focus on.”

“On the bus it was still on and then in the changing room,” Ake expanded, on watching the Gunners’ match. “Sometimes people who don’t play watch the game.

“Everyone has got their own preparation. For everyone it’s different. Obviously when we start we have to focus on our game and that’s the only thing it can be.”

Sunday’s results saw no significant change in the title picture, except City have one fewer game in which to slip up. The Blues trail Arsenal by a point, but crucially have a game in hand against Tottenham Hotspur on 14 May.

Given Mikel Arteta’s side have a goal difference which is seven stronger than City’s, it’s looking increasingly likely that picking up three points against Spurs will be a must. But the champions have that air of inevitability about them once again. They’ve won five league games in a row at the business end of the season and have gone 31 matches unbeaten in all competitions. 

Sunday’s win over Forest wasn’t vintage, wasn’t always pretty and perhaps wasn’t totally deserved - but that’s irrelevant at this stage of the campaign. City know how to get over the line when it gets to April and May, and that could once give them the edge over Arsenal in the title race.

“I think everyone’s got the experience but in the end experience doesn’t really make a difference. It’s about now, what we do now. At the moment it’s going well but we know what we have to do in the end — win four games and we can be champions again.”

“It [the end] is so close but it’s also so far away. I think every game is going to be a tough one. It felt like today people expect us to win but it’s never easy, these kind of games. Next week we have another that will be tough and the only thing we can do is game by game. I know it sounds cliched but it is the only thing I can do.”

“I think today was a tough one,” he added, on that less-than-convincing win at Forest. “All the circumstances and the way they played, it’s very tough to come here. They made it very tough but we dug in and got the three points.”