Manchester City storm into third straight FA Cup final

Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol help secure victory over Nottingham Forest

Manchester City's Rico Lewis celebrates scoring the opening goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest at Wembley. AFP

Manchester City reached their third straight FA Cup final after defeating Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Wembley on Sunday with goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol keeping alive City's hopes of avoiding a rare season without a trophy.

Lewis scored inside two minutes when he was fed by Mateo Kovacic and given time and space to fire into the bottom corner and silence the Forest fans.

Conceding an early goal was certainly not in the gameplan for Forest, who struggled to gain a foothold in the first half, registering just 25 per cent possession and no shots on goal.

The halftime introduction of Anthony Elanga almost turned the tide for Forest, but he scuffed Callum Hudson-Odoi's cross wide with his first touch in the 46th minute.

City punished the miss five minutes later when Gvardiol rose highest to nod home an Omar Marmoush corner for his sixth goal of the campaign.

The win gives Pep Guardiola's team a chance to salvage something from a disappointing campaign where their hopes of a fifth straight Premier League title disappeared early and they failed to even reach the round of 16 in the Champions League.

City will play Crystal Palace in the final on May 17.

Liverpool clinched the Premier League title at the same time as City were playing, and even an FA Cup title would be a mere consolation for a club that has dominated English football under Guardiola.

Still, it was a moment to celebrate for City.

"It was a good start. The way we played we did not allow them to make much transitions where they are so dangerous. They also did not arrive much in the final third with the crosses with Wood and so on," Guardiola told ITV.

"In the game they had chances, this is a team that with a game in hand is better than us in the PL. They created a bit more than in the game we played there one or two months ago [in the Premier League]. They are a great team. In general I liked most of the things that we did.

"Seven semi-finals in a row and three finals in a row years...Not bad!"

City hero Lewis was happy to have played his part.

"I had a feeling I was going to score today, speaking to all my mates on my phone, but obviously not that early. I just thought 'hit it and see what happens'. As soon as it left my foot I felt like it was going to go in," he told BBC Sport.