Man City players give Pep Guardiola instant response with 7% swing in Forest win

Oh, Kevin De Bruyne.

The football gods have not been smiling on Manchester City lately, with a relentless list of injuries and seemingly every mistake on the pitch punished by unsympathetic opponents. The best players tend to get the luck as well though, and De Bruyne went from a potential zero to certain hero again in the space of a minute against Nottingham Forest.

Back in the team for his first start since September 16, the Belgian produced one of his trademark defence-splitting balls in the first half...past his own defence. Ruben Dias could not recover and the in-form Chris Wood stormed through on goal, only to lash his effort wide of Stefan Ortega's post.

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As Pep Guardiola was still coming to terms with what happened, Jeremy Doku was afforded too much space at the other end and gave it to De Bruyne - free in the penalty area - to take a touch and smash home a second goal. It wouldn't have been a surprise given City's run if the returning hero had ruined another positive start, yet De Bruyne carried an air about him all evening that felt invincible.

It is not one he has carried for over two months after a painful and frustrating injury, and not one the team have felt for about six weeks as their fine start to the season has come crashing down around them. Perhaps there was always going to be a response to that limp first half at Anfield, but it was impossible not to feel that the return of City's king (and captain) had lifted all of his teammates.

Erling Haaland relished the reality of a player in the team always looking to get him in on goal, and - more importantly - there was also fresh legs in midfield. When even Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva are looking like they have extra zip in their legs, something drastic has happened.

Inevitably, De Bruyne was heavily involved in the first goal as he powered a header across goal after a well-worked move that Silva nodded in for his first home goal in the league for 13 months. Guardiola called on Tuesday for his players to start chipping in with goals to support Erling Haaland and that is exactly what happened.

By the time Doku has curled in a fine effort to put City 3-0 up on the edge of the hour mark, Haaland's percentage of City's league goals this season had gone from 55 to 48. Not only can the Blues win without Rodri, but they can also win without their best goalscorer finding the net.

It felt like a cathartic night a the Etihad, with the home fans making noise all night despite the miserable rain pouring down on them all evening and City showing a control to their game that has felt out of their grasp for too long. Whatever scars there were from the Feyenoord collapse were also allowed to heal, even if it was notable that Guardiola did not turn to his bench until the final minutes despite the 3-0 scoreline.

Both performance and result allowed for positivity at the Etihad that hasn't been felt for months, all coming just a few days after what had to be one of the lowest points in the meek fight at Anfield. When Liverpool twice went behind to Newcastle on the night, there was even fanciful hopes of a title race being less dead than it had seemed.

Another comeback from the league leaders removes the temptation to risk getting carried away, but unless Akanji and Ake are out again for a significant stretch this was a welcome mood injected back into the Blues. If they can enjoy more De Bruyne and more luck in the coming weeks, things can very quickly get better still.