Man City beat Forest to reach FA Cup final again

Rico Lewis scored after just 109 seconds to send Manchester City on their way to a third consecutive FA Cup final with a 2-0 defeat of Nottingham Forest.

On the day they conceded their Premier League crown to Liverpool, who lifted the title at Anfield by thrashing Spurs 5-1, Pep Guardiola's dethroned champs at least gained a measure of consolation at Wembley with their win on Sunday.

Josko Gvardiol extended City's advantage after 51 minutes before they rode their luck when Morgan Gibbs-White hit the crossbar, and then the post, as Forest attempted a comeback.

Taiwo Awoniyi also struck the City woodwork for a third time for Forest with 10 minutes remaining.

But Guardiola's side survived to keep their sole hope of finishing the season with silverware alive.

City, who won the FA Cup in 2023 and finished runners-up last season, will now face Crystal Palace on May 17 following the Eagles' 3-0 win against Aston Villa at Wembley a day earlier.

City failed to sell 5000 of their allocated seats, and it was the Forest supporters - revelling in their first FA Cup semi-final in 34 years - who were making all the noise prior to the match.

But they were stunned into silence with fewer than two minutes gone when Lewis opened the scoring.

Lewis found Mateo Kovacic before he ghosted unmarked to the edge of the penalty area.

When he received the ball back from Kovacic, Lewis took one touch to set himself before unleashing a fizzing effort with his next that Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels could do little to prevent from sailing into the bottom corner.

That set the tone for an opening half totally dominated by Guardiola's side. Forest ended a desperately bleak first half for them by failing to register a single shot.

They needed a spark and manager Nuno Espirito Santo turned to Anthony Elanga - a surprise omission from his starting line-up - at the interval.

The substitute had a golden chance to haul Forest level after just 57 seconds of his introduction but shot wide, and it proved costly when Gvardiol outjumped Murillo from Omar Marmoush's corner to head home.

Marmoush nearly added a third shortly after the hour mark before Forest came close to halving City's lead with Gibbs-White's stunning 20-yard volley crashing off Ortega's crossbar.

With 20 minutes to go, Gibbs-White pounced on Gvardiol's dreadful back pass before rounding Stefan Ortega only to hit the City goalkeeper's post when he should have scored.

And Ortega saw his woodwork tested for a third time through Forest substitute Awoniyi.

That would be as close as Forest would come with Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher leading the celebrations as City secured their place in the final.