Tonight, there was only one positive thing for Steve Cooper and Nottingham Forest – games like this won’t come every week. The newly promoted Premier League side won’t face such force every week, and luckily for them, won’t face Erling Haaland every week. Tonight’s game at the Etihad stadium was just a training session now for City, and just the game Pep Guardiola needed with a busy schedule ahead: Manchester City – Nottingham Forest 6-0. The Spanish tactician opted to start both Erling Halaand and Julian Alvarez in the attack and they both delivered: the Norwegian scored a hat trick and the Argentinian scored a brace.🎯Fewest games to score 2 Premier League hat-tricks5⃣ ERLING HAALAND………………………..2⃣1⃣ Demba Ba2⃣5⃣ Tony Yeboah2⃣5⃣ Fernando Torres2⃣6⃣ Fabrizio Ravanelli pic.twitter.com/BQPpdsqZcK— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) August 31, 2022 Every week there is a new game in the Premier League, and every week it’s a new challenged for Haaland in his rookie season in the Europe’s strongest league. Every time he is challenged, questioned, pundits are weighing if he will be able to deliver under the pressure of being the best young striker…and so far he has done so with ease. It was the Norwegian who basically finished this game after the first 38 minutes, after which he scored a hat-trick. In the first half, he had twelve touches, six touches in the opposition box, four shots, three shots on target and three goals. Enough, even for the weaker opponent like Forest. Haaland has so far scored back-to-back hat-tricks, taking his Premier League goal total to nine in five appearances. Enough said.
It’s worth noting that Julian Alvarez also played from the first minute and scored a brace in his first Premier League start. His first goal came after a great pass from Mahrez, which the Argentinian cleverly used to score, and he was also very smart and aware of the ball for the second, goal, when he used a flick to score for the final 6-0.PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 5TuesdayFulham – Brighton 2-1 (0-0)/Mitrovic 48, Dunk 55 og – Mac Allister 60 pen/Crystal Palace – Brentford 1-1 (1-0)/Zaha 59 – Wissa 88/Southampton – Chelsea 2-1 (1-1)/Lavia 28, Armstrong 45+1 – Sterling 23/Leeds – Everton 1-1 (0-1)/Sinisterra 55 – Gordon 17/WednesdayBournemouth – Wolverhampton 0-0Arsenal – Aston Villa 2-1 (1-0)/Jesus 30, Martinelli 74 – Luiz 77/Man City – Nottingham Forest 6-0 (3-0)/Haaland 12, 23, 38, Cancelo 50, Alvarez 87/West Ham – Tottenham 1-1 (0-1)/Soucek 55 – Kehrer 34 og/Liverpool – Newcastle 1-1 (0-1)/Firmino 61 – Isak 38/Thursday22.00: (3.80) Leicester (3.50) Man.Utd. (2.10)***odds are subject to change