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The inevitability of a Manchester City win was challenged -- but not defeated -- on Sunday when the reigning champions scrapped by but picked up a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest to keep them in control of the Premier League title race.

A matchup against 17th 17th-best team in the league felt like an appropriate time for Pep Guardiola to rest some of his best players, and so he did. Erling Haaland was named amongst the substitutes while an ill Phil Foden was left out of the matchday squad entirely, though having the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Jeremy Doku and Julian Alvarez meant City looked like they had their bases covered. The scoreline may have indicated as much, but the game state was a very different story.

City may have led in all the possession and passing-related stats by a wide margin, but Forest were the team with the better chances throughout the game. The visitors' 1-0 lead at halftime, courtesy of Josko Gvardiol's 32nd-minute goal, felt like it was on shaky ground as the hosts outshot them 8-7 and won the expected goals battle 1.41 to 0.32. City also survived two nearly calamitous errors from Ederson that could have led to goals for Forest, putting a damper on their title hopes in the process.

A similar version of events played out in the second half, but the gulf between the teams ultimately tells the tale of the game following the break. City were in charge of possession but Forest were doing more of the shot-taking by a margin of 7-3 and 0.64 expected goals to 0.45. The fact that City can call upon Haaland and de Bruyne to bail them out of trouble, though, meant they were able to overcome any shortcomings and maintain the edge to come out of yet another weekend unscathed. Things were made worse for Forest when manager Nuno Espirito Santo refused to take off a visibly injured Murillo, and were made to pay for it on Haaland's insurance goal.

It means City survived arguably one of their hardest remaining games, since Forest are in desperate need of points as they hover above the relegation zone by just one point. There's still another clash on the schedule before the season ends for Guardiola's team -- a faceoff at Tottenham Hotspur days before the final game of the season. As Spurs proved in a 3-2 loss to Arsenal earlier on Sunday, they have it in them to not roll over against the top teams. The respective showings between the Gunners and City demonstrated that there may still be a wrinkle or two left in this title race since both contenders showed their imperfections this weekend.

City may also need to sweat over Ederson's availability since he came off at halftime with an injury. Stefan Ortega filled in well during the second half, much as he has during Ederson's weeks-long injury spell earlier this spring.

And yet, it feels as difficult as ever to bet against City. Time and time again, they have climbed their way out of peril regardless of the circumstances -- imperfect games, inconsistent showings from players like Haaland or some other obstacle. The onus is still on City to act upon their massive edge in the title race -- with a game in hand and a point behind Arsenal, they have a 67.4% chance to win the title, per Opta. They have rarely faltered in such a task, though, offering little reason to doubt their unstoppable nature for the time being.