Man City vs. Nottingham Forest result
Man City vs. Nottingham Forest result, highlights & analysis as Haaland plunders another hat-trick in six-goal rout
Erling Haaland continued his sensational start to life in the Premier League as he made it back-to-back hat-tricks in Manchester City’s 6-0 demolition of Nottingham Forest.
Haaland hit a thrilling treble as City came from 2-0 down to beat Crystal Palace 4-2 at the weekend but he made sure this was a more straightforward affair, scoring a perfect hat-trick with his left foot, right foot and head inside 38 minutes.
The 22-year-old’s nine goals in his first five Premier League appearances is a new competition record, surpassing the eight scored by both Micky Quinn and City’s all-time leading goalscorer Sergio Aguero.
Joao Cancelo scored a sumptuous fourth in the 50th minute before Argentina forward Julian Alvarez marked his full City debut with a second-half brace to complete the rout.
Man City vs. Nottingham Forest final score
| 1H | 2H | Final | |
| MCI | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| NOT | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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.
MCI — Julian Alvarez (Riyad Mahrez) — 65th min.
MCI – Julian Alvarez — 87th min.
Phil Foden set up Haaland’s first goal against Palace and the duo were at it again to to give Forest a mountain to climb in the 12th minute. The England attacker floated an inviting ball from the left that Haaland prodded home after muscling his way around visiting captain Joe Worrall.
Brennan Johnson headed Forest’s best chance of the night into the side netting five minutes later and the game already looked to be up midway through the half when Dean Henderson miscued a clearance straight to Bernado Silva and Foden teed up Haaland for a tap in.
The Etihad Stadium rose to toast another hat-trick from its new hero when Cancelo’s outside-of-the-boot cross found Foden. He headed it across to John Stones, who nodded towards the goalmouth for the insatiable Haaland to do the rest.
Cancelo probably netted the goal of the night when Forest gave him far too much time and space to find the top corner on the end of Silva’s pass.
Alvarez impressed all evening playing off Haaland and he was alert to pounce with a precise finish across Henderson at the end of a typically marathon spell of City possession.
As if to show there is more than one player looking to emulate Aguero’s feats in sky blue right now, Alvarez crashed his second into the roof off the net after substitutes Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez stung Forest on the counter-attack three minutes from time.
Haaland doesn’t care about records, Guardiola claims
After breaking the Premier League records for goals scored in August, talk after the match turned towards quite how many chapters of the record books Haaland might turn to paper-mache during his time in Manchester. But speaking at his post-match news conference, Pep Guardiola said he has a different sense of what is driving a player who only had a DFB-Pokal to show for his time at Borussia Dortmund.
“I think what he wants is to win the titles. This is my feeling. I think that’s what he wants and if the records and the goals help us to win that will be perfect,” he said. “Knowing him a little bit, It’s one month and a half we are together, I don’t know if he would be happy to break the records if we don’t win titles. I think he wants to be part of that.”
Guardiola also acknowledged that Haaland’s enthusiasm around the training ground has been a breath of fresh air as City try to win their fifth Premier League title in six seasons. “Erling all the time is talking with the young players in the academy. You see that in the canteen, Erling talking to the players in the academy – I like it. He’s calm, training good, has an easy life and after in the games, he has this ambition to score.
Guardiola reveals Man City’s secret weapon in South America
Alvarez’s sparkling full debut gave Guardiola the chance to praise an unsung hero on City’s staff. “On Julian, we had incredible opinions. Our scout in South America, Joan Patsy, a friend of ours, talked to me one year and a half ago. He said ‘This guy is special’. He is a guy who scored a lot of goals in a team like River Plate. They have an incredible amount of pressure there to win. Now we are enjoying him. We have two strikers with incredible quality.”
Cooper rues Forest’s costly errors
Such quality means any opponent has to be close to flawless when City are in this mood. Even allowing Forest the mitigation of going through an awful lot of squad turnover since they won the Championship playoff final, Steve Cooper’s side were nowhere near where they needed to be. Bernardo Silva set about debutant Renan Lodi from the off and, although Henderson’s error for Haaland’s second stood out, Cooper felt all three of the first-half goals his team shipped were entirely avoidable.
“We knew we were coming up against an absolutely world-class striker [Haaland] and he’s not the only world-class player in the team, obviously – they had some on the bench,” said Cooper, whose team have taken four points from their opening five games. “Still you have to back yourself and I don’t want to take anything away from his goals tonight but I’m looking at our guys thinking we could have done a bit better. We didn’t go into the game defeatest, we always want to impose ourselves. We could have done so much better in the game.”
Man City vs. Nottingham Forest as it happened
Fulltime: Toffolo blasts one final shot wide for Forest, whose torment is at an end. City were just far too good tonight and there’s no shame in that for the Championship playoff winners. Guardiola’s side have won four of the past five Premier Leagues; with Haaland now in their ranks they are an utterly terrifying proposition.
90th minute+2: Awoniyi glances wide as Forest continue to seek a consolation.
90th minute+1: Johnson gamely tried to beat Walker in a foot race and comes up short. Unsurprisingly, Haaland is announced as man of the match in the stadium.
89th minute: It’s been a tough night for Henderson, but that’s an excellent save to deny De Bruyne after Mahrez and Alvarez combined to release the midfielder.
87th minute: GOOOAAALLLL!!!! Alvarez!!
Alas, Dennis clouted the freekick into the wall, De Bruyne led a City counter-attack, Mahrez had a shot blocked and Alvarez smashed the rebound into the roof of the net left footed.
86th minute: Gundogan blunders into Colback and Forest have a free-kick in a good position. It’s a spirited end to the contest from the visitors.
84th minute: The Forest fans, who have taken all of this in very good spirits, are now ole-ing their team during a period of possession. It ends with Gundogan blocking a shot from substitute Colback.
80th minute: City fans chanting Mario Balotelli’s name. It’s safe to say their latest striker might be a little more reliable than the beloved Italian.
75th minute: Highly-rated City youngster Rico Lewis is getting a run out at right-back. Stones makes way and Walker shifts inside alongside Dias.
72nd minute: Williams gets half a sight of goal for Forest but Gomez pinches the ball from him smartly.
71st minute: Mahrez is through one-on-one and should score. Guardiola has his hands on his head. Replays show the winger was probably just slightly offside from Gundogan’s raking pass so it matters even less than you thought it did.
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.