Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City: Player ratings as Haaland marks return with a goal

Manchester City kept within touching distance of Arsenal on Sunday thanks to a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

Goals from Josko Gvardiol and the returning Erling Haaland earned the win for City, who are now just one point adrift of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League having played one game less.

The Citizens were made to work for the three points on Sunday, with Forest creating a number of chances throughout the fiercely contested Premier League affair.

Despite Nottingham Forest's positive start to the game, it would be Manchester City who'd create the first notable chance of the game at the City Ground, with their star men Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri being the architects of the opportunity.

Rodri stole the ball off Morgan Gibbs-White in the final third to kickstart an attack for City, and De Bruyne came within a whisker of finishing it off soon after — seeing an effort from the left of the penalty well saved by the finger tips of Matz Sels in the Forest goal.

After prodding and probing the Forest backline for the best part of the first half an hour of the game, City would finally get their goal through Josko Gvardiol. The full-back rose highest at the near post to flick home a De Bruyne corner kick to make it 1-0.

Forest pressed forward with real intent after going behind, with Chris Wood missing a glaring opportunity to restore parity at the City Ground. The New Zealand striker was found completely unmarked seven-yards from goal by a clever cut-back cross from substitute Gonzalo Montiel, but with goal-gaping, he swung widely and completely mis-hit the ball — seeing it bundle out of the penalty area instead of into the back of the net.

The home side missed another glorious chance before the