Man City have one obvious area to address ahead of Nottingham Forest fixture

It’s hard to critique a team that has won seven games on the trot but Manchester City fans will admit their start to the season has not been fluid.

Pep Guardiola has been hit with several injuries to key players in a tight squad and only managed to name eight out of a possible 12 substitutes against Red Star Belgrade in Tuesday’s Champions League opener. Two of those were goalkeepers.

Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish could be fit in time for Saturday’s visit of Nottingham Forest but Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones are still sidelined. City have not lacked creativity in the absence of De Bruyne.

Julian Alvarez had one of his best nights in a City shirt against Red Star, grabbing two goals amid a scintillating display. Phil Foden has stepped up in recent matches while the Blues look to have exciting newbies in Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes.

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And that’s not mentioning seven-goal Erling Haaland, who grabbed his second assist of the season against Red Star. City have, meanwhile, been fine without Stones at the back but not perfect.

He was City’s best defender in last season’s run-in but Guardiola has enough cover in new boy Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, Manu Akanji and Nathan Ake. There will be one thing nagging the Blues boss, though.

In the past two matches, City have dominated the ball and yet conceded first on the break. Against West Ham at the weekend, James Ward-Prowse’s header saw City go behind 1-0 at the break while Osman Bukari’s sucker-punch for Red Star landed the hosts in the same position.

On both occasions, City hit back within a minute or so of the restart but