Kevin De Bruyne starred for Manchester City on Wednesday night
Kevin De Bruyne starred for Manchester City on Wednesday night
Pep Guardiola admitted he was relieved after Kevin De Bruyne inspired Manchester City to end their nightmare run.
De Bruyne dazzled on his first City start since mid-September, scoring one and assisting another at the Etihad as the champions won for the first time in eight games. But Guardiola’s joy at finally winning was tempered by injuries to defenders Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake.
Guardiola rejected claims from Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville that he had a problem with De Bruyne because they could not understand why he only played 12 minutes at Liverpool on Sunday and he was delighted by his display.
“I’m so happy for him,” said the City boss. “Last season he was many months injured and this season as well, I’m so happy he’s back. He fought a lot and he’s back with his physicality. The minutes he played at Anfield were really good and then 75 fantastic minutes today.
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“We needed this, yeah. The club, the players, everyone needed to win, but it’s just one game and in three days we are at Selhurst Park. The problems continue with Manu and Nathan, but we proved what an incredible group of players we have at our disposal.
“Nathan doesn’t look good and we’ll see tomorrow.” Forest boss Nuno Espírito Santo was determined to be upbeat about his side’s display, even though it was their third defeat in four Premier League games.
He argued the scoreline might have been different if Chris Wood had not missed a great chance at 1-0. “That minute is very important,” he said. “When we lose three-zero and you come away and say it was a good performance, maybe people don’t understand.
“So I will not say it was a bad performance because there were positive things for us in the game. Of course, there are some bad things and mistakes, but we can be proud of ourselves because we tried in this game and that will allow us to grow.”
It was all about De Bruyne and he had a hand, or more accurately a head, in City’s opener after eight minutes when he nodded Ilkay Gundogan’s pull-back goalwards for Bernardo Silva to touch home from close range.
Pep Guardiola admitted he was relieved after De Bruyne inspired Manchester City
For all City’s improvement offensively, they still look vulnerable at the back and Stefan Ortega, who was again preferred to Ederson, denied Morgan Gibbs-White after Forest cut the champions open.
Then Wood missed Forest’s best chance when De Bruyne played a hospital pass to Ruben Dias and the Forest striker planted his shot wide when clean through. In between those two Forest opportunities, Josko Gvardiol missed when played through by Erling Haaland, while De Bruyne also went close.
Skipper De Bruyne gave City breathing space when he bagged their second - and his first since August 24 - on 31 minutes. Doku cut in from the left, beating Ryan Yates, and he teed up De Bruyne, in acres of space just inside the penalty box, who fired home.
Doku made sure of the win on 57 minutes when he received the ball from Haaland and cut inside onto his right foot, past Nikola Milenkovic, before firing home into the far corner. De Bruyne was enjoying himself and Matz Sels denied him a second with a smart save from his drive and he, and maybe City, are back.
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