Pep Guardiola's Manchester City defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0, despite a red card to Rodri, to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
Manchester City endured a difficult afternoon to come out on top, thanks to resilience and defensive solidity at the Etihad Stadium.
How it happened
Manchester City began as they have all season. - attacking from the start and applying early pressure.
They were rewarded with a breakthrough inside seven minutes. Rodri was the architect of the move, spraying an inch-perfect diagonal pass into the path of Kyle Walker, and the full-back showed excellent awareness to cushion the ball back to Foden, who fired a clinical first-time effort beyond Matt Turner.
City doubled their advantage in the 14th minute through Haaland, as the Norwegian talisman headed home from Matheus Nunes’ inviting delivery following another brilliant team move.
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Faced with a two-goal deficit, the visitors were handed a lifeline within a minute of the restart when Rodri was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident involving Morgan Gibbs-White.
That decision provided the visitors with plenty of encouragement as they looked to capitalise on their numerical advantage, but clear-cut chances came at a premium as Guardiola’s men held firm under pressure.
Regardless of Forest's late pressure, Manchester City held on for all three points.