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Liam Delap’s emphatic brace earned Nottingham Forest a first home win of the season and piled the misery on Manchester City with a 3-1 victory.
Delap scored in either half after Jair Cunha had given Forest an early lead as City lost for the third Premier League game in a row.
This victory could be a coming of age for both Delap and Forest, who had struggled to adapt to life under new boss Oliver Glasner, with just one win from their opening nine games.
Delap had scored once in his opening eight games following his club-record move from Chelsea, but his brilliant double proved he can be the man to fire Forest to better things this season.
The win is their first in the league at the City Ground since April and sends Manchester United into the bottom three.
City found themselves 2-0 down inside 20 minutes, but did threaten a comeback when Rayan Cherki scored early in the second half.
But they slipped to a third loss on the bounce and amid the backdrop of the ongoing appeal against Premier League charges, their season is showing signs of falling apart.
Forest enjoyed an opening 20 minutes they could never have imagined as they were all over City and surged into a two-goal lead.
Having waited the best part of eight and a half hours to score in front of their fans, perhaps unsurprisingly the drought, going back to last May, was ended by an unlikely source in the sixth minute.
Centre-back Jair robbed Josko Gvardiol high up the pitch, advanced into the area and slotted past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
It was 2-0 in the 19th minute as Delap broke his City Ground duck in fine style.
Former Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson, who had a nightmare return to the ground where he turned into a £116m player, and Iliman Ndiaye left the ball to each other in the Forest half and Delap pounced, running all the way into the City area before firing an unstoppable shot past Donnarumma.
James McAtee almost made it three soon after, but he skied an effort from 16 yards after Forest had again robbed City of possession.
The visitors were rattled and had a big repair job on their hands.
They should have got one back in the 25th minute as Marc Guehi’s cross was perfect for Enzo Fernandez, who could not keep his header from six yards down.
Erling Haaland had been a virtual spectator but came alive in the 40th minute, only to be denied by some great defending by Jair.
Anderson’s ball to Abdukodir Khusanov split the Forest defence and the right-back fed Haaland, who rounded goalkeeper Matz Sels but saw his shot heroically cleared off the line by Jair.
But they did get one back in the 52nd minute as Cherki delivered a firecracker.
Jeremy Doku was clear down the left and his cross was deflected into the path of the France international, who slammed a half-volley into the top corner from the edge of the area.
City smelled blood and Haaland was a whisker away from levelling when his curled effort from 12 yards went just over.
Forest appeared to have weathered the storm and could have regained their two-goal advantage midway through the second half.
Fernandez was dispossessed and Ryan Yates’ shot cannoned off Anderson and looped on to the top of the crossbar.
But they did make it 3-1 with a brilliant breakaway goal in the 73rd minute.
Delap set Morgan Gibbs-White free in their own half and they raced the length of the pitch, with the England international returning the ball to the striker, who sent an emphatic finishing crashing in off the post.
That was enough to get them over the line as they ended a five-game winless run.
