Man City VS Nottingham Forest
Erling Haaland returned to-back full go-arounds as Manchester City put Nottingham Forest to the blade during the main half at the Eithad Stadium on Wednesday.
Haaland guaranteed the matchball as Pep Guardiola's side came from 2-0 down to beat Crystal Palace 4-2 at the end of the week and the Norway hotshot guaranteed his group hit the front against Forest when he pushed home Phil Foden's twelfth moment cross.
Foden and Haaland joined again soon after the halfway mark of the half after an unfortunate leeway from visiting goalkeeper Dean Henderson and the unquenchable striker made it nine in his initial five Premier League games when he gestured home from short proximity seven minutes before half-time.
Man City VS Nottingham Forest
Joao Cancelo's superb beyond the-boot cross set out that freedom and the Portugal full-back crashed a luxurious crash into the top corner to develop Forest's hopelessness and make it 4-0 right off the bat in the final part.
The Sporting News is following the match live from the Etihad Stadium and giving score updates and analysis.
Man City vs. Nottingham Forest live score
Goals:
MCI — Erling Haaland (Phil Foden) — 12th min.
MCI — Erling Haaland (Phil Foden) — 23rd min.
MCI — Erling Haaland (Phil Foden, John Stones) — 38th min.
MCI — Joao Cancelo (Bernardo Silva) — 50th min.
Man City vs. Nottingham Forest live updates, highlights from the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium
68th minute: Haaland can't get on the end of a Mahrez cross for his fourth. That'll be the last act from the hat-trick hero, who departs to a rapturous ovation. Kevin De Brunye comes on for him. Poor Forest. Gomez is also on for Cancelo at left-back.
65th minute:GOOOAAALLLL!!!! Alvarez!!!!!!
Goodness knows how many passes led up to that goal. It felt like City had the ball for about five minutes before Mahrez lobbed it up and looked like he was about to lose it. But that created the room for the Algeria winger to slot a pass through for Alvarez on the half volley and he took the chance for a first Premier League goal with aplomb.
60th minute: Palmer floats an inviting ball across goal from the left and it's mildly surprising to see Haaland isn't particularly close to it. City recycle the ball as they do and Silva stings Henderson's palms.
57th minute: Rodri and Foden were the men to make way and can rest up for City's trip to Villa Park at the weekend. Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis come on to reinforce the Forest attack.
53rd minute: More absolutely tremendous news for the Forest defence as Mahrez and Palmer wait to come on for City.
50th minute: GOOOAAALLLL!!!! Cancelo!!!!!!
Honestly, don't give him that much room, lads! Silva picks out his Portugal teammate, who launches a dreamy strike into the top right corner from the edge of the box. A beautiful moment that highlights just how ugly this might get for Forest.
46th minute: We're back. Cooper sent Forest back out early and sat on the bench to compose himself. City resume in possession and Gundogan welts one way off target. Which, funnily enough, is how they started the first half.
Halftime: Forest scamper, almost gleefully, out of their half on the attack, Lodi's deflected cross ends up in Ederson's gloves and the whistle goes. Haaland has just marched off looking like a bit of a maniac who thinks there's a lot more work to be done. Oof! Catch you back here in a bit.
44th minute: Brilliant from Alvarez, who you sense the crowd really want to get in on the act. Some neat footwork engineers a little room for the Argentinian who arrows a left-footed strike against the base of the post from 20 yards.
38th minute: GOOOAAALLLL!!! Haaland!!!
Honestly, mate, rein it in. Back-to-back hat-tricks for Haaland, with Foden involved again. The England man nodded one of Cancelo's outside-of-the-foot crosses back across goal after a corner was partially cleared. Stones headed it back towards the goalmouth and Haaland ended the bout of head tennis in the expected fashion.
Man City VS Nottingham Forest
35th minute: The visitors are scrapping hard, but City are having so much of the ball that when they don't have it their press is absolutely rabid. Then the ball tends to get booted out for City throw. Haaland looks to turn provider but Henderson palms his low cross away from the waiting Alvarez.
32nd minute: Oof, this is a thankless, hard slog for Forest. Cancelo's drills in a low cross that's cleared.
30th minute: City think it's 3-0 but Stones is offside as he taps in Haaland's flick on from a left-wing free-kick.
23rd minute: GOOOAAALLLL!!! Haaland!!
Dean Henderson, what are you doing? You can't be gift-wrapping things like that when City are in this mood. The Forest keeper errantly chips a ball straight to Bernardo. He finds Alvarez, who lays it back to Haaland. The striker is quickly on his bike to accept a return pass and a tap in from Foden. Too easy.
20th minute: A suffocating spell of City possession ends when Foden takes a tumble under a challenge from Yates on the edge of the area. Referee Paul Tierney opts to let it flow.
17th minute: Decent attacking spell from Forest ends with Johnson heading into the side-netting at the back post. That was lax from City and the visitors will feel they should have capitalised.
12th minute: GOOOAAALLLL!!! Haaland!
Who else? Haaland has his seventh goal of the season but Forest will feel that was a little too easy. Foden floated one of those nagging crosses between defence and goalkeeper where no one knows whether to stick or twist. Everyone stuck, with the exception of Worrall, who was unceremoniously manhandled by City's number nine as he opened the scoring.
9th minute: Silva has decided there's no time for pleasantries and is going at Lodi again. His curling cross is behind Haaland.
6th minute: The corner is cut back low for Alvarez to dart onto. Very much one from the training ground. O'Brien reads it and deflects the stroke behind. From the next centre, Alvarez almost prods home from a more conventional back post position. Lively start from him.
5th minute: Bernardo Silva welcomes recent Champions League foe Lodi to the Premier League by absolutely skinning him. The Portugal star loses his footing in the box and Forest are able to clear behind.
3rd minute: City into their work, stroking the ball about. Interestingly, they appear to be doing so in a rough 4-4-2 setup, with Alvarez and Haaland both deployed centrally. Gundogan shanks a left-footed shot way off target that isn't much good to either of the strikers.
1 min from kickoff: The teams are out. Forest resplendent in their new yellow away kit. Blue Moon ringing around the ground. Let's go!
20 mins from kickoff: A member of Forest's backroom staff has just given a big toot on a school whistle to signal the next stage of the warmup. It's like being back in gym class.
30 mins from kickoff: The teams are out and going through their warmups. Aymeric Laporte is on the touchline watching his City teammates. The Spain centre-back recently undertook the latest stage of his recovery from knee surgery in Bilbao and it is hoped he will be back in action around a month from now.
55 mins from kickoff: Forest's latest new arrival Renan Lodi is straight into the starting lineup, while Remo Freuler and Cheikhou Kouyate also make Cooper's XI.
1 hour from kickoff: The teams are in. Julian Alvarez makes his first competitive start for Manchester City after a lively second-half cameo against Palace on Saturday. He'll play on one of the wings flanking Haaland. Kevin De Bruyne is rested on the bench.
1hr 5 mins from kickoff: No doubt it's a tall task for Forest tonight, but they did win on their only previous visit to Eastlands — winning 3-0 to stun Mark Hughes' City in the FA Cup in 2009. In the same competition, Steve Cooper gave Guardiola a huge scare when his Swansea City took a 2-0 lead at the Liberty Stadium in 2019. The visitors battled back to win 3-2 with the help of some pretty generous officiating and went on to lift an unprecedented domestic treble.
1hr 25 mins from kickoff: City might be shoring up their backline with Borussia Dortmund centre-back Manuel Akanji if they can get a deal over the line before the transfer deadline. With Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte sidelined at the moment, Guardiola is keen for some senior cover in the heart of defence. The emergence of this transfer story has also reminded everyone that Akanji is a maths whizz.
1hr 45 mins from kickoff: Manchester City have got themselves into the unquestionably entertaining habit of giving opponents two-goal leads and then managing not to lose. After the final two games of last season — 2-2 at West Ham from 2-0 down, with a missed penalty at the death just for the craic, along with the 3-2 win against Aston Villa from 2-0 down midway through the second half to snatch the title — City’s normally assured backline has appeared wildly flimsy.
After going 3-1 down at Newcastle 10 days ago, they drew 3-3, while Crystal Palace were dispatched 4-2 despite leading 2-0 at halftime in last weekend’s thriller. The common denominator in those two games has been Erling Haaland making his presence felt in front of goal. Will the Norway superstar face one of his father’s former clubs in Nottingham Forest tonight, or will Pep Guardiola rotate with a congested Champions League schedule on the horizon?
2 hours from kickoff: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of Manchester City vs. Nottingham Forest from the Etihad Stadium.
Man City vs. Nottingham Forest lineups
Ilkay Gundogan and Julian Alvarez each impressed from the bench against Palace and have been handed starts, with Kevin De Bruyne dropping to the bench for a rest.
Manchester City starting lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Ederson (GK) — Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo — Silva, Rodri, Gundogan — Alvarez, Haaland, Foden
Steve Cooper has handed a debut to his latest new recruit, with Renan Lodi's Champions League pedigree likely to come in handy against one of the best teams in Europe. Jesse Lingard drops to the bench.
Nottingham Forest starting lineup (5-3-2, right to left): Henderson (GK) — Williams, Worrall, McKenna, Yates, Lodi — Kouyate, Freuler, O'Brien — Johnson, Gibbs-White
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