Manchester City snapped a seven-game winless streak as Kevin De Bruyne played a starring role in a 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday (Dec 4). The Belgian created Bernardo Silva's opening goal and then scored the second before Jeremy Doku rounded off a much-needed victory for the English champions. City's barren run included six defeats to leave them 11 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool before kick-off. However, De Bruyne's return to the starting line-up for the first time in nearly three months helped resume normal service at the Etihad Stadium. City move back into the top four and within nine points of Liverpool after their 3-3 draw at Newcastle. Defeat leaves Forest still in sixth but now four points off the top four.
Manchester City put their recent disastrous spell behind them as they ended a seven-game winless streak by beating Nottingham Forest. First-half goals from Bernardo Silva and star man Kevin de Bruyne put Pep Guardiola's side in command by the break, with Jeremy Doku adding a third 12 minutes after the interval.
After six defeats and a 3-3 draw with Feyenoord that must have felt like a loss given City were 3-0 up with 20 minutes left, the delight at successfully reaching the finish line on this occasion was obvious.
It was not perfect from the hosts – there were too many miscontrols and stray passes for that.
And if Chris Wood had finished – as it felt the whole stadium expected - when he ran clear from De Bruyne's wayward pass back into his own half instead of rolling the shot wide, Forest would have levelled Silva's eighth-minute tap-in and home nerves would have frayed. But De Bruyne struck at the other end almost immediately as he edged away from Doku to find enough space to collect his fellow Belgian's short pass and apply the perfect finish.
When Doku found the corner with his own excellent strike from the edge of the area to complete Man City's joint-biggest margin of victory in the league, in what has turned into a tortuous season, Guardiola's celebration was one of pure relief.
