Pep Guardiola hailed Kevin de Bruyne's influence on Manchester City as his return to the starting line-up marked the end of their recent winless run.
City had lost their last four Premier League games and remained without a win in seven league matches. But they cruised to a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest thanks to goals from Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku.
Guardiola's side are now unbeaten in each of their last 31 Premier League matches with the Belgian in the XI (W26 D5), while he has been directly involved in 25 goals (nine goals, 16 assists) in those matches.
After scoring two goals against Forest, the City manager was pleased with the influence De Bruyne had during his 73 minutes on the pitch.
“He was excellent, especially in the first half, even in the second half,” Guardiola told Amazon Prime.
“Really good, the presence and when he is fit he is a player who is so important for us. Since he came from Germany he has had an incredible influence on our game for many years.”
“[The difference is] we won, [before] we put on a performance but just couldn't win [on Wednesday] we won. Everything is beautiful now.”
The Belgian made his 265th league appearance for City and registered more than four shots (five) and more than four chances (four) in a Premier League match for the third time this season, despite making just five starts – only Bukayo Saka has done that. so this term is used more often.
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It was De Bruyne's first league start in almost three months and he was keen to focus on City's improvement rather than focusing on the table after Liverpool dropped points in a thrilling 3-3 draw against Newcastle United.
“It's not the time to look at that,” he told Amazon Prime. “It has been a difficult period, we have to accept the challenge. The Premier League is becoming increasingly difficult.
“We know everyone is becoming a difficult team to play against and everyone is taking points from everyone.
“We have to improve as a team first and we will see in a few months where we are. Hopefully we will have improved a bit and be a lot closer.”
Nuno Espirito Santo, meanwhile, was left disappointed by Forest's profligacy as they suffered a third defeat in four games.
Chris Wood, Anthony Elanga and Murillo all missed good chances, while Morgan Gibbs-White forced an impressive save from Stefan Ortega with the score at 1-0.
Speaking about Wood's one-on-one miss, Nuno told BBC Sport: “It was [a pivotal moment]. That minute was very crucial because Chris got a good chance.
“He is a good striker, but he was a few centimeters from the post. That can change the momentum of the match. But the other way around, they had a chance and they took it.”
“It was a big punch in the stomach and a big mountain to climb, but in the second half we tried. We had chances, but it wasn't to be. We're looking at the next one.”
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