Inspired by the goal-greedy Erling Haaland, Manchester City romped to a 6-0 home win over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night.
Four days after recording his first Premier League hat-trick against Crystal Palace, Haaland helped himself to three more top-flight goals inside the first 38 minutes of City’s midweek stroll.
The burly Norwegian was the quickest to react to City’s short corner routine, darting ahead of Joe Worrall to prod Phil Foden’s pass past Dean Henderson. Foden had the ball taken off his toes by a last-ditch tackle which only fell to the feet of Haaland 11 minutes later as he tapped in his second of the night before nodding in a third from inside the six-yard box.
Joao Cancelo rifled a ripsnorting effort into the top corner from the edge of the box as City resumed their demolition of the newly promoted side within five minutes of the restart.
Julian Alvarez got his first Premier League goals for the club in the final half hour. Speeding behind Forest’s beleaguered, the Argentine slotted City’s fifth of the evening between Henderson’s legs.
With four minutes remaining, Kevin De Bruyne – who watched the first hour of this drubbing from the bench – led a surge between the scattered Forest shirts. Riyad Mahrez’s shot was blocked but sat up for Alvarez to complete his brace and the evisceration of Steve Cooper’s side.
City have scored a league-high 19 goals from their first five matches of the campaign but still trail Arsenal’s 100% start to the season at the summit of the Premier League table. Forest, who were handing full Premier League debuts to Remo Freuler and Renan Lodi – sit one point above the relegation zone at this embryonic stage of the campaign.
The reigning Premier League champions travel to a struggling Aston Villa side on the weekend while Forest welcome fellow promotion winners Bournemouth to the City Ground on Saturday.
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