Pep Guardiola shows his admiration for Manchester City's new-look strike force

Manchester City picked up their fourth win in five Premier League matches on Wednesday night, with a 6-0 thrashing of top-flight new-boys Nottingham Forest. 

A hat-trick from Erling Haaland, and a brace from fellow newcomer Julian Alvarez propelled the reigning champions to a fifth game unbeaten at the start of the season, and along with first place Arsenal have set the standard so far in the young campaign. 

As if one hat-trick wasn’t enough, Erling Haaland built upon his staggering performance against Crystal Palace last weekend, and put in yet another shift for the ages. 

Three goals in 26 minutes from the Norwegian international sunk Forest, without the visitors ever getting a foothold in the game. 

To compound the Manchester City joy, Julian Alvarez bagged his first two competitive goals for the Etihad club in his first ever start. 

Speaking after the match, Pep Guardiola praised his side for the fantastic performance on the night, with a little extra praise for his goalscorers.

"Really good performance."

He continued, "The talent we have in our strikers

"A really good game.

"All of them (Manchester City’s goals) were brilliant," Pep Guardiola said.

After two games in a row in which the Etihad outfit needed to comeback from two goal deficits, a controlled and methodical performance against Steve Cooper’s side will be seen as a huge bonus on top of the result. 

While the ability to make storming comebacks late in games is a new, and welcome trait for Pep Guardiola’s team, they will not be keen on making a habit out of it. 

Next up for the Blues is a trip to Birmingham to face an out of form Aston Villa side, who have taken only three points from their opening five league games and currently sit in the bottom three of the table.

However, Manchester City will not take Steven Gerrard’s side lightly, after the Midlands side forced the Blues to pull out the dramatics and come from two goals behind to win the league on the final day of the 2021/22 season. 

The trip to Villa Park will set off a long stretch of games for the Premier League champions, with no midweek breaks until November.

September will also welcome the return of the Champions League for the Etihad side.

A trip to Sevilla next week will be followed by a home clash against German giants Borussia Dortmund, in a Champions League group stage campaign that will also feature a double-header with Copenhagen.