Man City book FA Cup final date with Crystal Palace after beating Nottingham Forest

In one of his second homes, Pep Guardiola looked a little more relaxed than usual, pacing the technical area with relatively quiet authority. He knows his side are still some way from their compelling, irresistible best … but they are getting there. A good number of fans did not turn up but their team certainly did.

And while and Nuno Espirito Santo can certainly claim they did not have the rub of the green, the fact is that City - with Mateo Kovacic the outstanding individual - were just a bit too good for them. Guardiola’s men have now assembled an eight-game unbeaten run, are in pole position to secure a spot and are strong favourites to beat in the Final.

For Forest, this was bitter disappointment. Their narrative has been one of the feel-good stories of the season but their style of play is not always easy on the eye. At times, it looks like they really are not too interested in winning possession and that is how it seemed for much of this contest.

To be fair, Guardiola flooded midfield, using almost as a false number nine, giving City a manpower advantage in that area. And in Kovacic, they had the game’s most effective midfield operator.

With his knack of not wasting passes, Kovacic has become a Pep favourite and it was his incisive run and ball that set up the City opener, a rare strike from relative distance by Rico Lewis.

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The early breakthrough was a vindication of a slightly surprising team selection from Guardiola, with Kevin de Bruyne - arguably in his best form for some considerable time - left on the bench.

But whatever permutation fielded by the City manager would have dominated the Forest team that showed up for the first half and Guardiola was visibly frustrated that his side did not put the tie to bed before the break.

That frustration looked understandable when Callum Hudson-Odoi put a sitter on a plate for Anthony Elanga in the opening seconds of the second period but the half-time substitute somehow clipped it wide.

And Forest were soon made to pay. It seemed they had been given a reprieve when Zach Abbott appeared to handle a goalbound Kovacic shot but from the resulting Omar Marmoush corner, Josko Gvardiol powered home a towering header.

The setback, though, did not dishearten Forest and only some extreme fortune kept City’s two-goal lead intact.

First, a stunning Morgan Gibbs-White volley smashed against the crossbar and the goal-frame had barely stopped shaking before the same player hit it again, this time with what looked like a formality after he had robbed Gvardiol.

Remarkably, Taiwo Awoniyi then also had an attempt strike the upright. To cap Gibbs-White’s unfortunate day, his follow-up effort was brilliantly saved by Stefan Ortega.

That summed up Forest’s second half but, in truth, Nuno should be kicking himself for sanctioning such a negative approach in the previous 45 minutes. As for City, the supporters who did fork out hard-earned money to make yet another trip to London celebrated with a Poznan and began to plan an umpteenth journey back to Wembley.

There was no wild celebration from Guardiola, probably because he knows that normal service has not yet resumed. But it is not far off.

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