Pep Guardiola spoke of his relief after Manchester City finally got back to winning ways with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
The champions had descended into crisis after a run of seven games without a win – six of which were defeats and the other an embarrassing 3-3 draw after leading 3-0.
Four of those losses had come in the Premier League, heavily damaging their chances of claiming a fifth successive title, but they appeared to turn the corner by sweeping Forest aside at the Etihad Stadium.
“We needed it,” said City manager Guardiola. “The club, the players, everyone needed to win.
“But it is just one game and in three days we are at Selhurst Park, where it has always been difficult.
“We played good. We still conceded some transitions and missed some easy things and lost some passes that you have to avoid, but in general, the most important thing was to break this routine of not winning games and we won it.”
Kevin De Bruyne, making his first start since September after overcoming a pelvic injury, made a huge difference to a side that appeared rejuvenated.
His powerful header was turned in by Bernardo Silva for the opening goal and the Belgian followed up with a powerful strike to make it 2-0.
The 33-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season but it was a strong riposte to recent suggestions of a rift with Guardiola.
A sweet strike 💥
⚡️ #HighSpeedMoments | @eAndGroup pic.twitter.com/WJOkfKo2zr
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 4, 2024
“I’m so happy for him,” said Guardiola of De Bruyne’s telling contribution. “Last season he was many months injured and this season as well.
“I’m so happy he’s back. He fought a lot, he’s worked and he’s back with his physicality. The minutes he played in Anfield were really good and today he played 75 fantastic minutes.”
Jeremy Doku wrapped up a pleasing win when he finished a rapid counter-attack just before the hour but there was still a downside for City with injuries to defenders Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji.
Guardiola said: “For Nathan it doesn’t look good and Manu has struggled a lot over the last two months. We will see.
“Phil (Foden) has bronchitis but when he doesn’t have fever he will be ready.”
Despite City’s dominance, Forest did have some bright moments and manager Nuno Espirito Santo was not downbeat.
He said: “When you lose 3-0 and you say it was a good performance maybe people don’t understand, but I will not say that was a bad performance.
“There are positive things for us in the game. Of course there are a lot of bad things, mistakes, but we had chances.
“We didn’t achieve but I think we come out proud of ourselves because we tried. For sure, this game will allow us to grow.”
