Preview: Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City - prediction, team news, lineups

Second from bottom faces second from top in the Premier League on Saturday evening, as Nottingham Forest welcome Manchester City to the City Ground.

The two teams played out a 2-2 draw in their last meeting at the Etihad Stadium in March, with Elliot Anderson scoring a late equaliser for Forest before completing his big-money move to City in the summer.

Match preview

Man City strengthened their hopes of securing automatic qualification for the Champions League last 16 with a 3-2 away victory over RB Leipzig on Wednesday, climbing into seventh place in the 36-team League Phase table at the halfway stage.

Manager Enzo Maresca has admitted that his team “struggled” in moments against Leipzig, but the German club’s nemesis Erling Haaland – wearing the captain’s armband – was on hand to slide home a 78th-minute match-winner for City and his 13th goal in just nine games against Die Roten Bullen.

The Citizens were made to work for their victory over Leipzig having previously suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats to Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion, results that forced them to surrender top spot in the table to champions Arsenal.

City’s 24-game scoring streak in the Premier League was halted by a high-flying Seagulls side who battled to a narrow 1-0 victory at the Etihad last weekend, despite Maresca’s men registering 21 shots worth 1.92 expected goals (xG) and over 60% possession.

Not since February/March 2016 under Manuel Pellegrini have Man City lost three PL games in a row, and they head to the City Ground this weekend having won two of their previous four league visits (D1 L1) since Forest’s return to the top flight in 2022, most recently winning 2-1 in December last year.

Oliver Glasner has not made the desired impact as Nottingham Forest head coach, with his team winning only one of their opening nine Premier League games (D3 L5) and accumulating just a single point from their last 15 available, leaving them down in 19th place in the table.

Scoring goals has been the key issue for the Tricky Trees, who are the Premier League’s joint-lowest scorers (six) and have drawn a blank in five of their nine matches, despite registering the second-most shots per game in the division (16.9), only behind Manchester United (18.6).

A further 15 shots and just one on target in the 78th minute was recorded in last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Brentford - another frustrating result that sparked a passionate post-match rant from Glasner, demanding his players to 'either buy in to changes or leave' to ensure that last season’s “s*** situation” does not repeat itself.

Forest’s hierarchy have reportedly welcomed Glasner’s strong words, but the real test is whether his misfiring squad will finally respond on the pitch. The Tricky Trees remains winless and goalless in five home fixtures this season, losing their last two to Coventry and Arsenal by a 1-0 scoreline.

Glasner now faces a daunting task against Man City, having lost four of his previous five league meetings with them (D1) during his time as Crystal Palace boss, conceding at least three goals in each defeat. However, Forest can draw confidence from their 1-0 home victory over City just two seasons ago, thanks to a late Callum Hudson-Odoi strike.

Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):

Manchester City Premier League form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Team News

Nottingham Forest midfielder Nicolas Dominguez (muscle) and forward Igor Jesus (calf) are both doubtful, while defender Nicolo Savona (knee) remains sidelined with a long-term injury.

Former Man City youngster Liam Delap has failed to score in his last five starts for Forest and is at risk of losing his centre-forward spot to Chris Wood, who is still waiting to start hist first league game of the season.

James McAtee – another ex-City player – has made a notable impression in a deeper midfield role where he is expected to continue, while Daniel Munoz and Ousmane Diomande will both be pushing for recalls in defence.

As for Man City, Maresca is not expected to make wholesale changes, but captain Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol are strong contenders to earn a recall in defence at the expense of Marc Guehi and Nico O'Reilly.

Enzo Fernandez, who scored his first UCL goal for City in midweek, is the most likely midfielder to play alongside Anderson, though Ayyoub Bouaddi and Mateo Kovacic are two central options pushing to replace the Argentine.

Haaland – without a goal in his last four appearances against Forest – will lead the line once again and could be supported in attack by Iliman Ndiaye, Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku, the latter of whom began as a substitute against Leipzig.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Sels; Cunha, Milenkovic, Murillo; Munoz, McAtee, Schlager, Williams; Ndoye, Gibbs-White; Delap

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol; Anderson, Fernandez; Ndiaye, Cherki, Doku; Haaland

We say: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Manchester City

Forest’s misfiring frontline is a growing concern for Glasner, but the hosts should take encouragement from Man City’s porous defence that has conceded 14 goals in their last seven games in all competitions.

A closely-contested battle could be in store this weekend, but we expect the Citizens to possess the clinical edge required to claim maximum points.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.