Michael Plant gives his thoughts after Manchester City return to winning ways in the Premier League.
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00:00Manchester City 3 Nottingham Forest 0 here at the Etihad Stadium. A return to winning ways for Pep Guardiola's side and one that is much needed.
00:08The fans who are filing out just to my right hand side here, well the last time they were here in the Premier League was 4-0 against Tottenham.
00:13Not the sort of performance that they're used to but the display they saw tonight from their side is much more of what they're in keeping I suppose over the last couple of years that you associate with the Guardiola side.
00:23City were excellent in all departments, controlled the ball really well, created plenty of chances and did give away a few at the back.
00:28I think that'll be the one concern in terms of their performance that still Forest had quite a few decent chances.
00:33But overall on the ball City much much better and it does bring to an end that winless run of 7 games in all competitions.
00:40Of course they lost that 4 in the Premier League so Guardiola will be delighted not just to get back to winning ways but also with the performance and at the heart of it all was Kevin De Bruyne.
00:49He came back into the side tonight, his first start in 77 games.
00:53Actually remarkable to think that Rodri has started a game more recently for City than De Bruyne.
00:57He's struggled with that pelvis injury for a long time, for the guts of 3 months now really.
01:03Guardiola was speaking about their relationship in the press conference ahead of the game,
01:08rubbishing any sort of claims or suggestions that he's had a bit of a rift with the player.
01:13But he brought him in tonight for his first start, he was brilliant at the heart of everything.
01:17He brought real energy, a fantastic passing range and also a lot of creativity which you always associate with De Bruyne.
01:23He set up the first goal for Bernardo Silva with his header, it was tabbed in at the back post by the Portuguese.
01:28He then scored the second himself, his first Premier League goal of the season.
01:33He has scored already this campaign but a fantastic finish from him beating Cels in the nodding of the Forest goal.
01:40At 2-0 at half time City were very comfortable.
01:42There was a bit of a threat as I say from the right hand side.
01:44Mamadou Khamdi played it right back, it didn't really work.
01:46Kyle Walker came on for him at half time.
01:48City got the third pretty quickly by Jeremy Doku curling into the far corner.
01:52Brilliant goal from him, he was also excellent tonight I thought.
01:55Doku, I thought Jack Grealish should be in the centre midfield, impressed as well.
01:58Silva on the right hand side was really good.
02:00And there was actually a really interesting performance from Erling Haaland who dropped deep on a number of occasions.
02:03Played some fantastic passes including for that Jeremy Doku third goal.
02:07But he was brilliant as well all night despite not scoring.
02:09Not something you typically associate with Haaland.
02:12And overall as I say a really good performance from City who get back to winning ways at the very least.
02:17The one concern will be though, there were a couple of players who came off.
02:20I mentioned to Khamdi, I think that was performance related rather than injury but not 100% sure on that.
02:24De Bruyne also came off.
02:26Kyle Walker indicating to Guardiola that he couldn't continue.
02:29Dropped to the deck and came off.
02:31He did sit on the bench so hoping that one's not too serious for the Belgian.
02:34I mean Guardiola really will want to keep him in the team now.
02:37And of course Nathan Ake came off in the final stages as well.
02:40Looked like a hamstring, might not be right on that but from where I was sitting the press box looked like that.
02:44He immediately indicated that he couldn't continue so that's a little bit of a concerning one.
02:49And also that Phil Foden wasn't involved tonight at all.
02:51He's got bronchitis so wishing him a speedy recovery but another player missing for City.
02:55So even on what has been their best night of the season so far.
02:58There's a couple of concerning aspects for Guardiola and a couple of things that he'll be asked about in his post-match press conference.
03:03Which aren't all positive.