Man City’s best and worst players in win over Nottingham Forest
Manchester City were able to move to within just one point of Arsenal in the Premier League thanks to their win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Goals from Josko Gvardiol and Erling Haaland were enough to secure a win over a spirited Nottingham Forest side who had plenty of chances of their own to go and win the game.
Having now won their last five Premier League games on the bounce, and still holding onto a game-in-hand of their title rivals Arsenal, very few would bet against City now going on to win their record fourth consecutive league title.
Here’s Man City’s best and worst players from the win, according to 90min’s esteemed player ratings.
Kevin De Bruyne: 8/10
Is Kevin De Bruyne the only player in the Premier League that can earn himself an 8/10 rating without actually being at his best?
Probably.
The midfielder lost four duels and misplaced an odd number of passes by his lofty standards, but he still managed to make game-winning contributions.
De Bruyne’s stunning corner kick delivery in the first half led to the opening goal of the game from Gvardiol, and his clever pass through the heart of the Forest defence set Haaland on his way to scoring the second.
He’s a match winner when he’s fully fit.
Honourable mention
Josko Gvardiol: 8/10
Much like De Bruyne, Gvardiol also made two telling contributions for Man City in their win on Sunday.
The first of which was the aforementioned goal, when he rushed across goal to thump home De Bruyne’s corner kick delivery. And his second was a timely goal line clearance at the start of the second half, with the Croatian rushing back onto the line to prevent a close-range Chris Wood effort from nestling in the back of the net.
Jeremy Doku: 3/10
When you’ve been taken off at half-time despite not being injured, chances are you haven’t played particularly well.
And that’s exactly why Jeremy Doku was hooked by Pep Guardiola.
The wide midfielder outright refused to track back throughout the first half at the City Ground, thus leaving Kyle Walker completely on his own to defend the flank. The result of this defensive negligence from Doku was Forest gaining a bit of a foothold in the game and creating a number of chances from the left flank.
You simply can’t afford to do that at the Premier League level.