Manchester City must have "balance" as they look to overcome their recent slump, so says Enzo Maresca.

City's losing run in the Premier League stretched to three games as they went down 3-1 to Nottingham Forest.

Jair Cunha and Liam Delap put Forest 2-0 up inside 18 minutes at the City Ground.

Maresca's team pulled one back through Rayan Cherki early in the second half, but Delap scored in the 73rd minute to settle the contest.

2 – Liam Delap's goal for Nottingham Forest (18th min) makes it the earliest Manchester City have been two goals behind in a Premier League game since November 2019 against Liverpool (13th min). Shocked. https://t.co/my8jjWqVIl

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 7, 2026

City have lost three consecutive Premier League games for the first time since a run of four in November/December 2024, and Maresca knows they have plenty to work on.

"I'm always concerned, even when we win games," Maresca said.

"We need to have balance. We won seven in a row. Now we have lost three in a row, so we need balance on that.

"During the international break, try to understand what we can do better, and try to start again after the international break.

"In the same way we have done the first one, we're going to use this international break to try to clarify what we can do better.

"We know we do some things better, and also we know we need to improve things. So we are going to use that and try to understand how we can avoid these kind of games."

Forest boss Oliver Glasner had cut a frustrated figure in recent weeks, but this win took Forest out of the bottom three.

He celebrated Delap's second by charging off down the touchline to join his players, and the Austrian quipped: "Of course, I can't demand from the players they have to outrun the opposition, and I run less than the opposite manager. So I think I had to follow.

"I was just told they were running six or seven kilometres more than City today, and that means I had to run more than Enzo Maresca as well, and I did my job. It was funny for me."

Saturday's result marked City's first 2+ goal Premier League defeat against a side starting the day in the relegation zone since November 2008 (a 2-0 loss to Bolton Wanderers).