Rayan Cherki insisted he would continue to take one game at a time despite his goal in Manchester City's 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest taking them top of the Premier League. 

Cherki was the star of the show at the City Ground, having provided the assist for Tijjani Reijnders' 48th-minute opener with a clever reverse pass into the Forest penalty area. 

But the hosts restored parity six minutes later through Omari Hutchinson, who rounded off a fine free-flowing counter-attack with a first-time finish beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma. 

However, City got themselves back in front in the 83rd minute, with Cherki picking out the bottom-left corner with a right-footed strike from Josko Gvardiol's headed knockdown.

"When the games come we need just one thing, and that is to win. We take the points because the championship is so long and so hard, so today is a big win," Cherki told TNT Sports.

"The next game is very important for us and we are ready."

The result also saw City win six consecutive Premier League games in the same season for the first time since winning their final nine matches of the 2023-24 campaign.

As Arsenal's clash with Brighton kicked off, the Opta supercomputer assigned City a 29.3% chance of lifting the Premier League title, a total only the Gunners (64.2%) can better in its season simulations. 

Cherki, however, was not getting carried away, with his focus already switching to City's trip to the Stadium of Light to face high-flying Sunderland on January 1.

"It's good for the team because the game was not simple," Cherki added.

"I am very proud of the team because the championship is so long and the win is for them, so we need to enjoy it."

But that same message was not shared by Reijnders, who scored in consecutive league appearances for the first time since between January and February earlier this year for AC Milan against Parma and Inter. 

"We know a lot of clubs suffer here. From what I heard, Nottingham Forest at home is always difficult, and yes [it's true] I felt it as well," Reijnders said.

"It's a very important win, and we are on the hunt. They made the spaces really tight, so it was very difficult to find the free man in between the lines.

"In the second half, we made some changes to the formation, and we could find the free man more often."