Manchester City have won a game of football.
In normal circumstances, that wouldn't be a shocking sentence - yet here we are and the team who turned winning into a normality had suddenly stopped doing exactly that. Six losses in seven had sent the Etihad into crisis mode - according to the outside world at least - so this visit of Nottingham Forest had turned into a must-win for City.
And win they did, thanks to the returning Kevin De Bruyne, starting his first game since September and recording a goal and assist in the first half. Jeremy Doku netted a deserved third goal and City held onto this lead to get back to winning ways after 40 days.
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These are the moments you might have missed from City's clash with Nottingham Forest:
New warm-up drill to sharpen up attack
City's warm-up has been tried and tested to get their players sharp, comfortable and up for the 90 minutes ahead. But now they've stopped winning, and the goals have dried up a little, it seems Pep Guardiola or his coaches opted for a change in how the forward line are put through their paces ahead of kick off.
Usually, the players will warm up with a ball and pass it around, before stretching in a group, playing a few rondos, and then breaking off for some position-specific drills. For the forwards, they go into the corner to a temporary goal to try and score past Scott Carson. This time, though, they used the main goal and alternated between shots from a lay-off and converting from crosses sent in by wingers.
Those wingers would usually just be among the group shooting, but they were instead tasked with feeding Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish and co. to ensure they were prepared as best as possible. Was it a significant change, or simply an attempt to refresh a team who needed a change in focus to rediscover their form?
Whatever the reason - was it a coincidence that Josko Gvardiol kept getting to the byline, or that Bernardo Silva kept hanging balls to the back post, or that the opening goal came from an Ilkay Gundogan chip to the incoming Kevin De Bruyne with Bernardo poking in on the goal line.
Team bus catches fans off-guard
City's team bus arrival is usually a well-choreographed affair. Fans at the Etihad are told when the bus has left the CFA across the road, the coach is tracked on its short journey to the stadium, and each player is given a heroic welcome as they step off the bus, walk through the Tunnel Club and into the dressing rooms.
But there was a sense of panic as the bus just.. arrived.. on Wednesday night, about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. There were fewer fans present due to the torrential rain, and the team avoided the fanfare by arriving quietly and quickly getting out of the rain.
Normally, that wouldn't raise any question marks at all, a decision that could have been taken for any number of reasons. But in light of City's seven-game winless run, any change in a well-oiled routine is bound to stand out. It certainly caught the Etihad stewards off guard as they scrambled to get into position for the squad arriving.
Guardiola's fury at Haaland and De Bruyne
Erling Haaland was doing his best to get involved against Forest, potentially looking to open up space for himself with Kevin De Bruyne back by coming deep and turning to sprint behind the defence. A good tactic in theory, but twice in the first half he forgot to do the most important part of that plan - keep the ball.
First he mopped up a loose ball but passed it straight out of play, and moments later he came deep again, looking to spin his man, but got it all wrong. Both times, Forest could break in numbers and almost scored. Guardiola was furious on the touchline both times Haaland gifted the ball away and took his customary pose on his knees as Forest broke. He then sent glares in Haaland's direction, who wisely looked away.
Guardiola was also furious at De Bruyne in the first half despite his goal and assist. At 2-0, he managed to mess up a simple pass back to Ruben Dias and Chris Wood has a free run on goal. If De Bruyne was on the same team as Wood, you would call it a perfectly-weighted assist, and City were thankful that the in-form striker somehow missed the target.
In his area, Guardiola was seething at De Bruyne, but he was soon celebrating as the Belgian fired in a second for City just 60 seconds later to make amends for his error.
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