Manchester City may not have found it easy to beat a fighting Nottingham Forest, but Erling Haaland put the hard-fought victory in perspective today in his after-match comments. Talking to Sky Sports, Haaland, who scored the crucial 2nd goal for City said it was “all about winning”. The response came due to the extremely tough nature of the match. In fact, if things had gone just a little Nottingham Forest’s way, they could have drawn the match or even pulled off a sensational victory. However, their timidness in front of the goal ensured that the best chances they got were frittered away.

Things had gone so bad for City that when the first-half whistle was blown, a number of their players were seen gesticulating and animatedly talking about what had gone wrong. The second half started badly for City too, with Forest almost scoring. It forced Manager Pep Guardiola to bring on Erling Haaland in place of the misfiring Jack Grealish. It was a great substititution as it was followed by a goal scored by Haaland.

How bad were things on the pitch? The goal-scorer Gvardiol told Sky that, “It was really tough.” He added that he was not expecting to score, but he did put himself in a decent position and finished well.

Haaland added that the first thing is always the team and how it is done is immaterial. As for the next match? He concluded, “Three points, shower, next game.”

And what about the challenge posed by the Gunners? Gvardiol said the City were not affected by Arsenal's performance.

Notably, after today’s win, Manchester City are in second spot on the EPL table with 79 points. Arsenal won today’s match against a fighting Tottenham Hotspur too and are on 80 points. However, City have played one match less. Also, while Arsenal have a few very tough matches to play, City have a comparatively easier run till the end of the season.

Liverpool, which is third on the table, have fallen off the title race after losing 2 of their last five matches, drawing 2 and winning just one. This is Manager Jurgen Klopp’s last season at Liverpool and at one time they were among the clear favourites to win the title.

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