Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola appeared in a press statement after the 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest in the eighteenth round of the English Premier League.

The coach joked, "All the kilograms I gained during the Christmas holidays, I lost today. I am now in peak fitness. What a wonderful team Sean Dyche has built! These are truly three very valuable points."

He added: "Nottingham Forest is an amazing team; their style of play is incredible. Igor controls all the balls. They have a top-class team. This team participated in the Champions League last season, although they only played one or two matches, and now they are in European competitions. It's a great team, and their stadium is very tough, especially in winter."

He continued: "We have talked a lot about this matter with the players over the past few days. In winter, at Nottingham Forest, you have to be fully focused and ready. If we hadn't been prepared today, we wouldn't have won this match. The morale was very high, so I am very happy for the players."

Regarding the changes between the first and second halves: "There were many players positioned behind the ball, and they did not utilize the spaces adequately. Later, when we launched counterattacks, we moved in and out of the penalty area, creating scoring opportunities."

And about celebrating with Pep Linders after the two goals: "He is a great coach. He is a top-class coach. Sometimes people think he is his assistant, well, maybe I am his assistant. We talked at halftime and made a slight change to the game plan."

He concluded about leading the league: "We have played 18 matches, which means we have completed the first half of the season. We know that the second half will include many matches similar to today’s game. The Premier League gets tougher day by day, but it is important to be at the top. Winning or losing today does not mean the end of the road; we still have many matches ahead of us."