Manchester City responded to Arsenal’s North London Derby win with a victory of their own although Nottingham made them work hard for it.
After Mikel Arteta’s Gunners resisted a second-half comeback from neighbours Tottenham, it was the turn of the reigning Premier League champions. Both teams (Man City and Nottingham) had big chances in the first half, but only City defender Josko Gvardiol was able to put one of them away.
Despite their lowly league position, Nuno Espirito’s Forest were able to cause problems for their opponents. It was hard for City to relax, with left wing-back Ola Aina causing problems on more than one occasion.
At this stage of the season, a win of any flavour will do for the title contenders, and substitute Erling Haaland ensured they’d end the day with just that.
Victory-by-any-means was especially important on a day which brought a fresh injury worry for Ederson after Phil Foden was already missing through illness.
City didn’t have things all their own way early on, but took the lead a little over half an hour in when Josko Gvardiol headed a Kevin De Briuyne corner beyond Matz Sels. Forest gave as good as they got in the early stages, with their wing-backs getting forward well. though an injury for Neco Williams left them a man down defending the corner from which the City man headed home.
Nuno’s side seemed to sense counter-attacks were their best source of opportunities, and City needed alert last-ditch defending from Nathan Ake to snuff out danger midway through the first period. The recently prolific Chris Wood spurned chances for the hosts too, with City forced into changes as they aimed to get more of a foothold.
Eventually it was one of those changes which paid dividends, with Erling Haaland – back from injury – making the points safe
Next up for City is a home game against Wolves. aaland scored a hat-trick in the fixture last season, and there are plenty in Manchester who would love to see a repeat.