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The Manchester City manager was delighted by his side’s 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest
Pep Guardiola has praised Nottingham Forest after seeing his Manchester City side go top of the table with a hard-fought 2-1 win at the City Ground.
Forest made it to half-time at 0-0 before Tijjani Reijnders put the visitors in front, only for Omari Hutchinson to equalise with his first goal since his summer move from Ipswich Town.
City made it eight wins in a row, though, when Rayan Cherki pounced seven minutes from time – and leave Forest stuck in 17th place in the table.
Guardiola admitted his side had been given a stern examination: “All the kilos I won over Christmas time in weight, today I lost it. I am fit again. What a team Sean Dyche has made again. That’s a really, really, really big three points,” he told TNT Sports.
“[Forest] are an incredible team, the way that they play they do it unbelievably. Igor wins all of the balls. They have a top quality team, this team was in the Champions League but for one or two games last season and now in European competitions. A fantastic team and tough place to come, and at winter time.
“We talked a lot about this in the last few days with the players. Winter time, at Nottingham Forest, you have to be there, there, there.
“Today if we are not ready then we do not win that game. The mentality was unbelievable, so really pleased again for the guys.
“There were too many players behind the ball and not the pockets [in the first half]. After when we break, move inside and outside, then we create chances.
“We have 18 games played so we have now finished the first leg. And in the second we know that coming is a lot of games like today. The Premier League is tougher, tougher, tougher, but it is important to be there. Winning or losing today would not mean it’s over, we have many games.”
Midfielder Reijnders was equally complimentary: “We know a lot of clubs suffer here. From what I heard Nottingham Forest at home is always difficult, and yes [it’s true] I felt it as well. It’s a very important win and we are on the hunt.
“They made the spaces really tight so it was very difficult to find the free man in between the lines. In the second half we made some changes to the formation and we could find the free man more often.”
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