Manchester City made it six wins out of six matches in the Premier League after defeating Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Premier League
Result: Manchester City 2-0 Nottingham Forest
Date: 23 September 2023
Venue: Etihad Stadium
City manager Pep Guardiola recalled Josko Gvardiola, Manuel Akanji and Jeremy Doku, with Nathan Ake, Sergio Gomez and Bernardos Silva dropping out.
The Citizens got off to the perfect start when a well worked passing move ended with Kyle Walker laying the ball up for Phil Foden, who rifled the ball into the bottom corner.
The lead was doubled in the 14th minute as Matheus Nunes lifted a neat pass to the far post for Erling Haalad, who sent a powerful header past Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner for his eighth league goal.
Haaland has now scored eight goals in his first six league games this season, compared to the ten he netted in his first half-dozen encounters last campaign.
The visitors were dealt a blow five minutes before the halftime break, with loan signing Nuno Tavares being forced off with an injury and replaced by World Cup winner Gonzalo Montiel.
The second half got off to a fiery start when City were reduced to ten men a minute in after Rodri was shown a straight red card for a putting his hands on Morgan Gibbs-White.
Forest were all over the Premier League champions in the second half, which forced Guardiola to alter his side as Doku and Julian Alvarez made way for Kalvin Phillips and Nathan Ake for the final 30 minutes.
City did get a rare chance on the break in the 77th minute when Ake broke down the left flank before sending a hard cross to Haaland at the far post, but the striker surprisingly blazed over from close range.
Ederson ensured the Citizens walked away with a clean sheet when he produced a superb save to keep out Anthony Elanga in second-half stoppage, as he defending champions maintained their perfect start the campaign.
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