Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Nottingham Forest - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - December 4, 2024 Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne scores their second goal Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne bagged one goal and set up another in his first start in more than two months as City outclassed Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Wednesday to end their four-game losing run in the Premier League.
Bernardo Silva and Jeremy Doku also scored to help end City's seven-match winless streak across all competitions, and lift Pep Guardiola's men fourth in the table with Forest sixth.
"We needed it, the club, the players, everyone needed to win," Guardiola said. "The most important thing, of course, was to break this routine of don't win games, and finally we won."
De Bruyne had not started since suffering an abdominal injury in September and his presence was immediately felt as he helped put City on the scoresheet in the eighth minute when Ilkay Gundogan lifted in a cross which the Belgian headed towards goal and Silva poked the ball home from close range.
De Bruyne scored himself in the 31st minute when he latched on to a pass from Doku and fired home from just inside the 18-yard box. Doku all but put the game away in the 57th minute when he met a pinpoint long ball from Erling Haaland, cut inside his man and lashed it into the far corner.
De Bruyne, who had relieved City fans singing his name all night, had come on as a substitute in the team's five previous games, including a 2-0 loss at league leaders Liverpool on Sunday that left champions City fifth in the table.
There had been questions about a reported rift between the oft-injured De Bruyne and Guardiola but the 33-year-old was given the captain's armband on Wednesday, and he led the team in style.
"He played really good," Guardiola said of his skipper. "Defensively he helped us a lot. Very good. I'm really pleased. He's an incredible person. What he's done these years with us have been outstanding. Maybe he can't play every three days, but hopefully he can help us."
Forest squandered chances, among the most glaring when Chris Wood was one on one with keeper Stefan Ortega but fired his shot wide. Wood was left to rue that opportunity to equalise as De Bruyne scored less than a minute later.
"When you lose 3-0 and you come and say it was a good performance, maybe people don't understand, but I would not say it was a bad performance as there were positive things in the game for us," Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said. "Of course, there was a lot of bad things, mistakes."
Guardiola selected Ortega as his keeper over Ederson for the second successive game, and the German made a spectacular diving save from a blistering shot from Morgan Gibbs-White early in the game.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing,Editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond)
