City Watch: Semenyo set for City switch

It’s been just over three weeks since I wrote my last edition of City Watch, where quite a lot has happened for Manchester City.

First of all, I hope everyone had a restful Christmas and New Year, and didn’t drive themselves too mad with there being no Boxing Day game other than Manchester United!

City have played four Premier League games since my last column, so I thought it’d be best to talk about the results and what they mean for the rest of the season. The Blues finished 2025 with a flourish, winning both games against West Ham and Nottingham Forest, who are both struggling down at the bottom of the table.

The Hammers suffered a 3-0 loss at the Etihad thanks to an Erling Haaland brace and a Tijjani Reijnders goal. After Christmas, City travelled to the City Ground to take on Nottingham Forest, which may have seemed like a more simple game on the surface, but a match against a Sean Dyche team can never be underestimated.

Reijnders put the Blues in front just after half time to continue his good run of form with his fourth Premier League goal of the season. However, a quick counter attack from Forest gave Omari Hutchinson an open net to peg back City. A nervy encounter followed, and as we headed into the last 10 minutes, I was worried that we would lose ground of Arsenal in the title race.

However, Rayan Cherki stepped up to score once again with a terrific strike from outside the box to give us a 2-1 win, heading into the New Year just two points behind Arsenal. 

Despite City’s perfect end to 2025, 2026 has so far not been so successful. First, Pep and his players travelled to the North East to play newly promoted Sunderland, who went into the game unbeaten at home in the Premier League. In one of the most frustrating games I’ve watched in a long time, the Black Cats held out for a 0-0 draw, and with Arsenal beating Aston Villa a few days before, this put the Blues 4 points behind Arsenal.

I was slightly more confident heading into the game against Chelsea at the Etihad on Sunday, as just a few days before, the London club announced they had parted ways with their manager, Enzo Maresca, who us City fans will remember from when he was Pep’s assistant.

I said just a moment ago that the Sunderland game was the most frustrating I’d watched in a while, well that took just 3 days to beat… In a endless list of missed chances, City just couldn’t hold out for a 1-0 win after Reijnders scored once again just before half time. Enzo Fernandez leveled up the game in the 94th minute, another blow in the title race, as the Blues now sit six points behind Arsenal.

Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol both picked up big injuries in the Chelsea game, with Josko looking like he’ll be out for the season, and Dias out for at least a month and maybe six weeks. It’s clear that we need defensive reinforcements following these injuries, and the first step the club took was the recall Max Alleyne, who has been on loan at Watford.

The links to Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi have also grown in intensity, so let’s see if anything happens over the next few weeks. One thing is clear though, Antoine Semenyo is set to become a City player in the next few days. 

He’s due to play his final game for Bournemouth on Wednesday and will finalise his deal following this. We may have defensive issues, however, our attack is starting to look scary, with the likes of Doku and Semenyo on the wings, Foden and Cherki through the middle with Rodri back in the team and there to sweep up and of course, Erling Haaland, who looks set to break his own goalscoring record for the season.

Next up, we’re at home to Brighton, which would’ve been played by the time this column is out. On the weekend, the FA Cup is back, and City face Exeter at the Etihad.