Match report and free highlights as Manchester City made it six wins from six in the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium. Phil Foden and Erling Haaland scored early before Rodri was sent off early in the second half
Sunday 24 September 2023 16:45, UK
Manchester City maintained their perfect Premier League record this season with an ill-tempered 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium.
Goals from Phil Foden and Erling Haaland inside the first quarter of an hour put Pep Guardiola's team in total control before Steve Cooper's side had established any foothold in the game. The home side never quite relinquished their grip despite Rodri being sent off 27 seconds into the second half.
Nottingham Forest have shown themselves to be a potent force on the counter-attack away from home this season, going two goals up against Manchester United at Old Trafford and defeating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Premier League champions proved a different proposition.
Forest had barely touched the ball when Rodri found Kyle Walker with a delightful pass in behind the flailing Nuno Tavares in the seventh minute and the full-back found Foden with an unselfish cushioned volley. The finish was emphatic, capping a move that featured 46 passes.
Matheus Nunes was making his first start in the competition for City and he was instrumental in the second goal, dummying one pass and running to receive the next, lofting a deep cross onto the head of Haaland. The Norwegian striker has missed a few of late but this one felt inevitable.
Guardiola appeared agitated on the rare occasions that City surrendered possession in the first half and was cautioned for his complaints but it had appeared to be a straightforward afternoon until Rodri's inexplicable decision to shove Morgan Gibbs-White near the neck.
Suddenly, the game became ill-tempered, Taiwo Awoniyi and Ederson squaring up. Forest had much more possession too as Guardiola switched to a 5-3-1 formation, engineering an improbable siege mentality among the home side. There was to be no comeback for Forest, who are now 10th.
The result makes it six wins from six for Manchester City and though there were no immediately costly consequences due to Rodri's red card, the midfielder is now set to miss the game away to Arsenal next month. A ray of hope for their rivals as City marched on regardless.
"Hopefully, Rodri will learn," said Guardiola.
"Rodri has to control himself and his emotion. That is what he has to do. I can get a yellow card, Rodri cannot get a yellow card because they are inside the pitch.
"I said at half-time, 'Be careful, guys. Be careful'. Unfortunately, we could not do it. Rodri could not do it."
Asked if Rodri, described by his manager as the best holding midfielder in the world earlier in the week, had let him down, Guardiola replied: "Yeah. I don't like to play with 10 because it is our fault."
A game of two halves and yet, Guardiola, in his own way, may feel that his Manchester City side won both of them. The momentum graph shows how City's utter dominance of the first half shifted dramatically following Rodri's red card but the manner of their performance thereafter will have pleased him.
It was almost embarrassingly easy for his side early on, passing relentlessly and then picking the moments to penetrate the back line, through Rodri's vision, Julian Alvarez's positioning and Jeremy Doku's dribbling. The sending off presented the champions with a different kind of challenge.
The crowd became involved, much more so than when City had appeared to be cruising to victory. More than once, Guardiola gesticulated towards them, earning a rousing response each time. The defence, five of them following Nathan Ake's introduction, revelled in their task of maintaining the clean sheet.
The reaction upon the full-time whistle was one of pride as well as satisfaction, in a way that would not have been the case had Rodri not had his rash moment. That error by his midfielder will have disappointed Guardiola. Everything else, from the early class to the resilience shown late on, was a reminder of why they are so, so good.
Manchester City visit Newcastle on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup third round, live on Sky Sports (kick off 8pm). Pep Guardiola's side are back in Premier League action at Wolves next Saturday at 3pm.
Nottingham Forest host Brentford in the Premier League next Sunday at 2pm, live on Sky Sports.
