How the players rated as the Cityzens snapped their seven-game streak without a victory in emphatic fashion at the Etihad Stadium
At last, Manchester City have won a football match. Thirty-nine days after beating Southampton and seven games later, Pep Guardiola's side were reminded what victory felt like as they beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Wednesday, inspired by a vintage Kevin De Bruyne performance.
After losing four league games in a row for the first time in his career, Guardiola made four changes to the team that had lost to Liverpool and fallen 11 points behind the leaders, recalling De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol. Bernardo Silva scored his first goal since the Community Shield to get City off to a comfortable start, although there was a big scare when a De Bruyne back-pass made its way to Forest's top scorer Chris Wood, but the Kiwi hitman fired wide.
De Bruyne breathed a big sigh of relief and punished the Tricky Trees seconds later with a piledriver high into the net. Doku then rounded off the victory with a splendid individual goal, cutting inside from the left and ramming the ball home.
GOAL rates Man City's players from the Etihad Stadium…
AFPGoalkeeper & Defence
Stefan Ortega (7/10):
Made a fine save to swat away a Gibbs-White strike heading for the top corner and put off Wood. Did more than enough to keep his place over Ederson for at least another week.
Manuel Akanji (5/10):
Looked a bit rusty and was taken off at half-time.
Ruben Dias (6/10):
His leadership is starting to shine through again after a long period out.
Nathan Ake (6/10):
Solid at the back and positive going forward, playing his part in the move for the opening goal. Hobbled off near the end with a suspected injury.
Josko Gvardiol (6/10):
Got forward a lot but was wasteful, missing with a header and scuffing a clear opening from inside the area.
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Ilkay Gundogan (7/10):
His best display since returning, controlling the game by getting on the ball as much as possible.
Bernardo Silva (7/10):
Very lively in the first half, constantly probing from the right after breaking his four-month goal drought.
Kevin De Bruyne (8/10):
Back with a bang. Made his first start since September and every move in the final third went through him. His goal was a rocket and only a fine save from Sels prevented him scoring again.
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Jack Grealish (6/10):
Worked hard defensively and knitted the midfield together.
Erling Haaland (4/10):
Had an early shot saved and did almost nothing afterwards. Yes, he got an assist, but Doku did all the work. Will be very disappointed not to have got in on the act and his bad night was summed up when he ballooned a shot over at the end.
Jeremy Doku (7/10):
Ripped Forest's right-hand side to shreds in the second half and scored a wonderful goal.
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Kyle Walker (6/10):
Had a comfortable 45 minutes which he really needed given his recent form.
Rico Lewis (6/10):
Got forward a lot after replacing De Bruyne.
Savinho (N/A):
Came on in added time.
James McAtee (N/A):
Brought on in added time.
Matheus Nunes (N/A):
Came on in added time.
Pep Guardiola (7/10):
Freshened up his starting XI and it paid dividends as two of the recalled players scored. And this time his early changes didn't come back to bite him.
