Haaland answers call to help Man City keep pace with Arsenal

Struggling Forest threatened to punish a sub-par performance from a City side without the ill Phil Foden and with Haaland starting on the bench as he recovers from injury.

But, nine minutes after coming on, the Norwegian jumped onto a through ball from Kevin De Bruyne, one of two assists he would provide on the day, and skipped past Murillo before rolling in a superb finish.

Few teams in Premier League history have had City’s experience of dealing with late-season title dramas and, after Arsenal’s London derby win earlier in the day, the pressure was firmly on the defending champions.

It threatened to be a trying afternoon when, with just 20 seconds on the clock, Ola Aina’s far-post cross found Neco Williams who mistimed his shot disappointingly and failed to make decent contact.

And when City took a 32nd minute lead, that Forest miss looked like being a costly one - for them, and Mikel Arteta’s title challengers.

It came in rudimentary fashion, after Williams conceded a corner in blocking a Jack Grealish shot, sustaining an injury which forced him off the field and, eventually, to the bench.

While Forest were left with 10 men, De Bruyne sent over a perfect near-post cross which Josko Gvardiol met, and converted, with a superb angled header.

It was the Croatian defender’s third goal in his last five games, after not scoring in his first 32 for City, and an indication of how even the more unlikely players can hit the right notes for a Guardiola team in the deciding stages of a Premier League season.

But it was a shock that City reached the half-time interval with that lead intact, given how they were put under pressure by the home side.

Ederson sustained an injury, and might have conceded a penalty for a foul on Willy Boly as Forest pressured the visitors, and would eventually come off at the interval to be replaced by Stefan Ortega.

Chris Wood then completely miskicked, with the City goal open in front of him, from Gonzalo Montiel’s cross, and the half ended with Ederson losing a corner and Murillo scooping a hurried shot over.

Wood, guilty of that bad first half miss, repeated the feat early in the second half, failing to make strong connection with Anthony Elanga’s cross from six yards and seeing the shot blocked by Gvardiol.

Forest continued to threaten, although Guardiola’s response was not a bad one to be able to play, bringing on Haaland for Grealish who had become less effective as the game wore on.

Quickly, City made a chance for Julian Alvarez who hurried a shot over as his side looked for the extra goal they desperately needed to enjoy a more comfortable closing half-hour.

And De Bruyne might have wrapped it up on 68 minutes with a committed run and terrific strike which was superbly diverted away from goal by Matz Sels.

Haaland finally found his way through a couple of minutes later and his 21st league goal of the season was sufficient to guarantee victory.

Nottingham Forest (5-4-1): Sels 7; Williams 7 (Montiel 34, 6), Niakhate 7, Boly 6 (Sangare 84), Murillo 7 (Omobamidele, 74, 5), Aina 7; Elanga 7 (Reyna 74, 5), Danilo 6 (Yates 74, 5), Gibbs-White 7, Hudson-Odoi 7; Wood 4. Substitutes (not used) Turner, Toffolo, Origi, Ribeiro.

Man City (4-1-4-1): Ederson 6 (Ortega 45, 6); Walker 6, Akanji 6, Ake 7, Gvardiol 7; Rodri 7; Doku 6 (Kovacic 45, 6), Silva 6, De Bruyne 8 (Nunes 88), Grealish 6 (Haaland 61, 7); Alvarez 6 (Bobb 88). Substitutes (not used) Stones, Gomez, Carson, Lewis.

Referee: S Hooper 7