Pep Guardiola defended Ederson after his mistake against Nottingham Forest
The Brazilian was questionably beaten at his near post for Forest's winner
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By YASEEN ZAMAN
Published: 12:55 EST, 8 March 2025 | Updated: 12:55 EST, 8 March 2025
Pep Guardiola came to Ederson's defence after the Man City goalkeeper was embarrassingly beaten at his near post in their 1-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
15 minutes prior to his blunder, the Brazilian had just made a world-class save to deny Callum Hudson-Odoi after he cut inside from the left and aimed for the far corner.
Ederson batted the winger's low shot onto the post, denying what would have been a certain goal for Forest
But at the second time of asking, Hudson-Odoi was able to get the best of his stumbling block between the sticks, thanks to an error by Ederson.
The 24-year-old seemed to walk into the City box from the right flank before testing his luck. His shot had a slight nick off the foot of Josko Gvardiol on the way in, but it would not have done a great deal to put Ederson off.
Guardiola was lenient in his verdict of the incident, refusing to attribute any blame to his shot-stopper.
Pep Guardiola refused to blame Ederson after his mistake for Nottingham Forest's goal
The Man City goalkeeper was questionably beaten at his near post by Callum Hudson-Odoi
After their 1-0 defeat by Forest, City will need to watch their backs in the top four race
'It is what it is,' he said. 'I never blame a player. I prefer to praise. I never blame.
'I didn't see the action but it's football. A good action from Hudson-Odoi so nothing to say.'
City controlled a staggering 69 per cent of possession, but were not able to forge many clear cut chances, managing just three shots on target.
Nevertheless, Guardiola seemed relatively satisfied at his side's performances, rather than ruing the missed opportunity to leapfrog Forest in the table.
'It was a tight game,' the City boss said. 'At the end it was one transition. We missed the pass, they did a transition and they scored the goal.
'We were a little bit slow in our process. We struggled to create chances but always we give credit to the opponent because they defended really well.
'We controlled the main threat, long balls to Wood and second balls, really good, and after that the transitions always we were really good especially in the first half.
Despite his positive takeaways from the game, Guardiola recognised that City must add more results to the win column if they wish to make the top four.
City blew their opportunity to leapfrog Forest in the Premier League table and move up to third
If the champions fail to do so, it would be the first time in Guardiola's career that a side managed by him do not qualify for the Champions League.
The Spaniard insisted: 'We have to win games. We have not won enough games in a row to be secure. We have ten games left and we have to win a lot of games to qualify. It's as simple as that.'
City's next Premier League game is against Brighton at the Etihad, in another huge opportunity to be on the right side of a points swing in the top four race.
Brighton lie sixth in the table and just a point off City after their last-gasp win over Fulham on Saturday.