Premier League
Manchester City Secures Victory Over Nottingham Forest In Guardiola’s 300th Premier League Game
Manchester City celebrated Pep Guardiola’s 300th Premier League game in charge with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. The win saw City move back to within one point of league leaders Arsenal, who had played a game earlier in the day.
The reigning champions started the game strongly, with Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku posing early threats to the Forest defense. Neco Williams also tested City’s goalkeeper Ederson, showing signs of promise for the home side.
However, it was a well-worked set-piece routine that broke the deadlock for Manchester City, as De Bruyne’s corner found Josko Gvardiol at the near post, who expertly headed the ball into the net for his second Premier League goal.
As the first half progressed, Forest came close to equalizing from a set-piece situation, but Murillo’s effort went over the bar. Ederson’s injury just before halftime led to the introduction of Stefan Ortega in goal for the second half.
Forest piled on the pressure in the second half, with Gvardiol making a crucial block to deny Chris Wood from adding to his goal tally. Guardiola then brought on Erling Haaland from the bench, and the Norwegian made an immediate impact back from an injury, he latched onto a clever pass from De Bruyne before drifting past Murillo and side-footing into the back of the net to seal all three points for City securing his 21st goal of the Premier League season.
Haaland’s goal sealed Manchester City’s first top-flight league double over Nottingham Forest since the 1990/91 season, leaving the hosts just one point above the relegation zone.
