Highlight of Man City’s ruthless 6-0 thumping of Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium was Erling Haaland’s amazing second consecutive hat-trick. Since this was the first encounter between the teams in 13 years, the visitors were aware from the start of what a test this game would be.
After 12 minutes, Steve Cooper’s team was immediately down. Haaland outraced his defender to meet Phil Foden’s cross at the near post, and the Norwegian successfully finished beyond Dean Henderson. Ten minutes later, he scored again, this time with a simple tap-in from close range inside the six-yard box to give City a commanding lead.
The 22-year-old then completed an incredible hat-trick in just 26 minutes just before halftime with a close-range header to score his second straight hat-trick for his team and end the game.
Five minutes into the second half, Joao Cancelo joined the scoring for City with a beautiful long-range effort into the top corner from the edge of the box.
In the 65th minute, Julian Alvarez scored his first goal in the league for City, capitalizing on a superb through cross from Riyad Mahrez to finish solidly into the bottom corner from a tight angle.
What more can be said about Erling Haaland? Even though August is still young, he now has nine league goals for his new club after two hat-tricks for City in back-to-back Premier League games.
Three of his four shots during the game ended in goals, demonstrating once more how deadly he is within the six-yard box. In total, Haaland also prevailed in an aerial duel and one successful tackle. The 22-year-old might surpass the 30-goal mark for City in the league this year if he stays healthy.
