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2022/23 English Premier League
Matchday 5
Manchester City v Nottingham Forest
Etihad Stadium
Manchester, England
Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Kick-off is at 18h30
Manchester City will be looking to continue their unbeaten start to the
Premier League season when they entertain newly-promoted Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, August 31.
Pep Guardiola's side have already dropped points in the new campaign after being held to a 3-3 draw by Newcastle at St James' Park on matchday 2.
The Citizens found themselves trailing for the second game in succession on Saturday when John Stones' own-goal on four minutes gave Crystal Palace the lead and Joachim Andersen doubled their advantage midway through the first half.
However, Bernardo Silva pulled one back for City on 53 minutes before a hat-trick from Erling Haaland (62', 70', 81') completed the comeback win, which kept them within two points of leaders Arsenal in second place.
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Guardiola hailed the outstanding contribution of new signing Haaland, who took his tally to five goals for the campaign after opening his account with a brace against West Ham on debut.
"Erling has done [what he has done] since he was born," the Spaniard said. "He has done what he has done all his life, in Salzburg and everywhere he has been he has scored goals.
"Against these type of teams, we struggle because they defend so deep, but he has an incredible sense of goal. The three (he scored), especially the last one, but the first one as well, were all good goals.
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"The numbers for this guy are beyond. The most important thing is that he has settled perfectly, and he is an incredibly humble guy."
Forest have only registered one win from their opening four games since gaining promotion via the Championship playoffs, but the early signs are promising.
Steve Cooper's troops made Tottenham work hard for their 2-0 win at the City Ground on Sunday, with a goal in each half from Harry Kane inflicting a second defeat on the Reds this season.
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Cooper admits his players could have done better with both of Kane's goals, although he saw plenty of positives to suggest they are on the right track.
"There were a lot of good aspects to take from the game and we did a lot of things well today," he said. "But when we don't get something out of a football match we're never going to shout too much about the positives because we want to win.
"I thought we were unfortunate with the first goal and really stuck to the plan well in terms of how we wanted to press them, and it took a ricochet to give Kane a chance in a position you don't want him to be in.
"For the second goal, we've not marked well enough in the box and we've allowed the cross to come in too easily so we can do better on that, but I'm also not going to be too narrow-minded enough to see there were a lot of good things in the game."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Man City - 1
Notts Forest - 2
Draws - 2
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