Cherki strike powers Man City to sixth straight win
MANCHESTER, England—Rayan Cherki kept Manchester City’s Premier League title challenge powering on with a late winner at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The French forward’s 83rd-minute strike secured a 2-1 victory at City Ground to make it six league wins in a row for Pep Guardiola’s team.
City is on an eight-game winning run in all and provisionally moved to the top of the standings—one point ahead of Arsenal, which was playing Brighton later on Saturday.
“Today is a big win,” Cherki told TNT Sports. “I’m proud of the team because this game is very complicated to win.”
It was Cherki’s second goal in three games and fifth overall. He also provided an assist with an intricate pass to Tijjani Reijnders to put City ahead three minutes into the second half.
Omari Hutchinson equalized for relegation-fighting Forest, which was holding out for a crucial point until Cherki fired through a crowded box for the winner.
Guardiola looks like a man who believes his team is ready to regain the title it surrendered to Liverpool last season. He joined in the celebrations with the traveling fans after the final whistle—acting conductor as they celebrated wildly after another win.
Meanwhile, in Rome, late goals from Pierre Kalulu and Kenan Yildiz earned Juventus a 2-0 win at promoted Pisa on Saturday as the Bianconeri won their third straight in Serie A.
Moving up
It was a challenge for Luciano Spalletti’s side, though, as Pisa threatened twice by hitting the woodwork.
Following morale-boosting victories over Bologna and Roma, Juventus moved up to third place—four places higher than when Spalletti was hired to replace the fired Igor Tudor two months ago.
Edon Zeghrova provided a burst of energy for Juventus when he came on just after the hour mark and his work down the left flank led to Kalulu finishing off a counterattack from close range.
Yildiz then added another from close range in stoppage time.
Pisa’s 17-year-old winger Louis Thomas Buffon, the son of former Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon, came on in the 85th for his fourth Serie A appearance.
Earlier, Como won 3-0 at Lecce to move up to sixth as Nico Paz netted his sixth of the season. Jacobo Ramon and Anastasios Douvikas added goals for the visitors.
Fiorentina’s crisis deepened with a 1-0 loss at Parma that left the Viola in last place. Oliver Sorensen scored shortly after the break for Parma, which moved five points clear of the drop zone.
Also, Udinese and Lazio drew 1-1; and Cagliari came back from a goal down to win 2-1 at Torino.
