MANCHESTER, England – Coach Pep Guardiola stressed ahead of Nottingham Forest’s visit to the Etihad Stadium that Kevin De Bruyne’s return to the team will not solve all of Manchester City’s problems.

After six defeats and one draw, the midfielder cannot manage everything. But De Bruyne made his first City start since suffering an abdominal injury in mid-September and scored a goal and an assist in the first 30 minutes of his comeback. While he’s not the solution to all the problems Guardiola’s champions are currently struggling with, he is is pretty good at covering up the cracks.

City won 3-0, recording their first win in the competition since beating Southampton on October 26. De Bruyne will be 34 next summer and the last 18 months of his career have been marred by injuries. However, Guardiola’s team is still better with him.

“I’m so happy for him,” Guardiola said.

“Last season he was injured for many months, including this season. I’m so glad he’s back. He fought a lot. He played a fantastic 75 minutes. We had to win. The club, the players, everyone had to win.” “

On Tuesday, Guardiola had to dismiss suggestions of a falling out with De Bruyne after restricting him to a supporting role in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.

The City coach insisted that the Belgian had to be carefully introduced to the team after a six-week break. Against Forest he decided it was time to throw it back in.

It took De Bruyne just six minutes to create his first chance of the night, sending in a cross from the right that was shot into the goal by Erling Haaland and parried by goalkeeper Matz Sels. He had his assist after eight minutes. Ilkay Gündogan crossed from the left, De Bruyne directed a header back over goal and Bernardo Silva added a simple finish off the line.

City need to move on from their over-reliance on Haaland’s goals and it was the first time Silva scored since the Community Shield against Manchester United in August. De Bruyne also struggled to score, but his third goal of the season was gifted to him by a Forest defense that seemed determined to give him as much space as possible.

After intercepting a pass from Jérémy Doku in the middle of the penalty area, he had ages to find his spot and fire a right-footed shot past Sels. After a busy month, it was exactly what City needed.

De Bruyne could have scored a hat-trick in the second half. He saw a low free kick fly past the post and then had his head in his hands as Sels somehow parried away a shot that appeared to have reached the corner of the net. With 16 minutes left to play, Guardiola decided it wasn’t worth the risk to let him play any longer before tough trips to Crystal Palace and Juventus over the next seven days.

De Bruyne walked away – the game won – to chants of “Oh Kevin De Bruyne” at the Etihad.

“He played really well,” Guardiola said.

“He helped us a lot defensively. Very good. I’m really satisfied. He is an incredible person. What he achieved for us during these years was outstanding. If he’s fit he might not be able to play every three days, but hopefully it will work out.” He can help us, as he has done since he arrived from Germany.

“We will see how he recovers after a long injury layoff, but we will see how he feels in three days.”

It is still too early to say that De Bruyne is back to his best and the same goes for City.

A first win in eight games would be a welcome relief for Guardiola, but there are still issues that need to be resolved. Forest had 12 shots and should have scored at least once. Chris Wood had a golden chance to make it 1-1 midway through the first half, but failed to finish. The defensive weakness that was a reason for City’s disastrous run has not yet been resolved, and it won’t help that Manuel Akanji and Nathan Aké were both forced out through injury.

“The problems with Manu and Nathan remain, but we are proving what an incredible group of players we have at our disposal,” Guardiola added.

“I’m sorry for Nathan. Manu, we’ll see. Maybe not in Selhurst Park, but in Turin. I think Nathan will stay longer. We played well, we still missed a few simple things and dropped some passes. It was better than (the defeats against Liverpool and Bournemouth, but very similar to the other games we didn’t win. That’s all.

Still battling a crippling injury list and a frail defense, Guardiola knows De Bruyne is not the answer to all his problems. But it definitely helps to have him back.