Manchester, Dec 5 Kevin De Bruyne has expressed relief after Manchester City ended a seven-match winless run by beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the Premier League.
De Bruyne was named in the starting lineup for the first time in over two months and made an instant impact, setting up Bernardo Silva with a header to tap in from close range. Shortly after the half-hour mark, the skipper doubled the lead with a powerful drive into the top corner from 15 yards.
Jeremy Doku then added a third after the interval to extend City's lead and propel his side to their first victory since October.
De Bruyne was happy to see the team bounce back with a well-deserved victory. "It’s nice. It’s not been a nice period for me, but you have to deal with it. It’s nice to be out there to change the momentum hopefully. It’s been a tough time. You have to accept the challenge, I think we did well today," he said.
“We started really well. First 20 minutes we were in control. I had a chance with the header, I was trying to score but it was going next to the goal. It was good that Bernardo was there. I was really surprised because when I got the ball from Jeremy [for the second goal], I was in so much space. I just had to hit the target. Luckily I did that.
“It was more of a 3-3-4 I would say. We didn’t expect Forest to go man for man so we adjusted a bit. The first 30 minutes we did well and then we struggled a bit. And then the second half was a different game playing against five at the back.
“I tried to manage it a bit. In the second half I managed it a bit more and controlled it a bit more. I’m happy I could do 70 minutes, it’s a big improvement from what I’ve done lately so I’m happy about that," De Bruyne added.
The win moved City back into the top four in the Premier League with 26 points from 14 games, with Liverpool at the top with 35 points from the same number of games played.
De Bruyne feels that it's too soon to discuss the title race and insists that the team's focus is solely on improving with every match.
“To be honest it’s not the moment to look at that. It’s been a hard period. We have to accept the challenge. The Premier League is getting harder and harder. We know that everybody is becoming a really tough team to play. Everybody is taking points off everybody.
“We have to improve as a team first, try to win games and we’ll see in a couple of months where we are. Hopefully, we will have improved a bit and we get a bit closer. For the moment, it is not the time," said De Bruyne.
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