Haaland answers call to help Man City keep pace with Arsenal

Premier League: Nottingham Forest 0 Manchester City 2

Erling Haaland answered the call for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City who kept pace with Arsenal in what has become a breathless two-horse title sprint.

Struggling Forest threatened to punish a sub-par performance from a City side without the ill Phil Foden and with Haaland starting on the bench as he recovers from injury.

But, nine minutes after coming on, the Norwegian jumped onto a through ball from Kevin De Bruyne, one of two assists he would provide on the day, and skipped past Murillo before rolling in a superb finish.

Few teams in Premier League history have had City’s experience of dealing with late-season title dramas and, after Arsenal’s London derby win earlier in the day, the pressure was firmly on the defending champions.

It threatened to be a trying afternoon when, with just 20 seconds on the clock, Ola Aina’s far-post cross found Neco Williams who mistimed his shot disappointingly and failed to make decent contact.

And when City took a 32nd minute lead, that Forest miss looked like being a costly one - for them, and Mikel Arteta’s title challengers.

It came in rudimentary fashion, after Williams conceded a corner in blocking a Jack Grealish shot, sustaining an injury which forced him off the field and, eventually, to the bench.

While Forest were left with 10 men, De Bruyne sent over a perfect near-post cross which Josko Gvardiol met, and converted, with a superb angled header.

It was the Croatian defender’s third goal in his last five games, after not scoring in his first 32 for City, and an indication of how even the more unlikely players can hit the right notes for a Guardiola team in the deciding stages of a Premier League season.

But it was a shock