Guardiola calls on Man City to be ‘more aggressive’ as Walker slams ‘unacceptable’ draw at Forest

Kyle Walker has said Manchester City’s 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest is an “unacceptable” result after their win at Arsenal on Wednesday.

City went top of the Premier League following the 3-1 victory in north London but fell behind the Gunners after Mikel Arteta’s side picked up a 4-2 win against Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime.

Pep Guardiola’s men took the lead at the City Ground to go back on top but were held to a 1-1 draw after Chris Wood scored in the 84th minute.

Walker has urged his team to “do better as a team” after they dropped two points and thinks “every game” has to be treated like a “cup final” if you want to win the league.

“First and foremost we go to the Emirates and play the game we did and then come here, it’s unacceptable,” Walker said.

“If we want to compete with teams near the top we need to win. We missed a few chances and we need to do better as a team.

“Sometimes it’s football and sometimes it’s emotion. Every game should be treated the same – like a cup final. What can I say other than it is unacceptable. We have to stick together as a group.

“The senior members of the team put our thoughts across. That is just not acceptable. We have to give credit to Nottingham Forest. They dug in and hung on. We have to do better.”

Guardiola was less brutal in his assessment of the game.

The Spanish manager says his players performed really well but did not take their chances.

“We did really, really good. It was a really, really good game,” he said.

“We had amazing chances but it’s football. We have to score. We did everything. You have to do it. There were too many clear [chances] to score.

“It is one of the best games we have played but we drop two points. We should be more aggressive. There are many games still to play, we know it.”

Next up for City is a trip to Germany to take on RB Leipzig in the last 16 of the Champions League.