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

Right now out of the Champions League picture let alone the Premier League title race, confidence-poor champions Manchester City has a seven-game winless streak to end when Nottingham Forest arriving at the Etihad on Wednesday evening.

Pep Guardiola‘s troops could not stop the Liverpool juggernaut on Sunday, lost 2-0 to the runaway leaderswhile Tricky Trees drew Ipswich Town 1-0 to return to winning ways.

Match preview

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A defiant Guardiola found the energy to raise six fingers to the Liverpool crowd as the usual “fired in the morning” chants rang out from the Anfield stands as the City boss tried to remind the jubilant Merseyside contingent of how many times he has conquered. the earth.

However, six is ​​also how many defeats Man City have suffered in their last seven games following Sunday’s failed stopover at Anfield, hitting either side of the break from 5pm. Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah driven forward Arne Castle‘s machine to a richly deserved victory.

In truth, the stumbling champions were lucky to still be in the game at half-time – Liverpool were their own worst enemies in the final third for the majority of the game – but the end result was still the same, City falling 11 points behind the Reds in Premier League table.

The Citizens – who have also been bumped outside the top four thanks to their alarming heat – would statistically have the biggest comeback the Premier League has ever seen if they are to complete a fabulous five-peat, as every team with at least a six- points lead after 13 games has gone to win the title.

Having lost four in a row for the first time since 2008, one of which saw Tottenham Hotspur humiliate the Citizens on their own patch, Guardiola’s crisis club risk going down in back-to-back top-flight home games for the first time time since May 2021.

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While City risk a fifth consecutive Premier League defeat in the midweek clash, Forest stopped the rot of two consecutive defeats and atone for beating Arsenal and Newcastle United when Ipswich Town visited.

It was a far from vintage performance Nuno Espirito Santo‘s troops, but an early second-half penalty from Chris Wood was all that was required to see from the Tractor Boys as the New Zealand hotshot drew level Brian Roy on a record 24 Premier League goals for Forest.

An Etihad stroke away from an unbeaten 25, Wood heads to Manchester just off an off-colour Erling Haaland with three goals in the Golden Boot race, netting nine of Forest’s 16 efforts during their unexpected early push for European places.

Sitting comfortably sixth in the table – just one point behind Wednesday’s hosts – Forest arrive at the Etihad with the joint-third best away record in the division this season, with their 11 points on rival turf trailing only Liverpool’s 16 and Chelsea’s 13 after six road trips.

But not since the 2008-09 FA Cup have Forest managed to get one over Man City, who have three wins and a draw to their name against the Tricky Trees since their promotion to the top flight in 2022, which has eased the back-to-back. 2-0 wins in the 2023-24 campaign.

Manchester City Premier League form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

Team news

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The only less positive thing from Sunday’s game from a City perspective was the return of Jeremy Doku from a thigh injury, but Rodri (ACL), Oscar Bob (leg), Mateo Kovacic (unspecified) and John Stones (foot) remains out of contention for the hosts.

Doku injected some life into a toothless Citizens attack at Anfield and should be one of the options for change considered by Guardiola, who waited until the 79th minute to introduce Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne from the bench in Liverpool.

The City boss has hinted that he could deploy Grealish in a central role in a bid to solve his team’s creativity woes, while Ederson will no doubt expect to replace Stefan Ortega in the finish after a surprising exchange at the weekend.

As for forest, Morgan Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga both shook off concerns to make the squad against Ipswich, meaning long-term absences Danilo (ankle) and Ibrahim Sangare (hamstrings) are the guests’ only fitness problems.

However, Elanga only got a brief spell off the bench after injuring his shoulder in the Arsenal defeat and his stand-in Jota Silva had a telling effect, winning the penalty for Wood to convert early in the second half.

The Portuguese winger should also have done enough to warrant a starting role at the Etihad, but Neco Williams – another new starter in the Ipswich win – could make way for regular left-back Alex Moreno.

Manchester City’s possible starting line-up:
Ederson; Lewis, Dias, Akanji, Guardiol; B. Silva, Gundogan; Savinho, Grealish, Doku; Haaland

Nottingham Forest possible starting line-up:
Sales; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Moreno; Yates, Dominguez; J. Silva, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood

We say: Manchester City 2-1 Nottingham Forest

No team should rock up to the Etihad and resign themselves to defeat during City’s unforeseen crisis, and a Forest side who have excelled on the road all season – Arsenal aside – should give Guardiola’s side an excellent run for their money.

But with the Citizens boss able to introduce some tricky wingers and creative hubs into a much-changed attack, we can finally imagine the champions arresting their woeful sequence, but only by a narrow margin of victory.

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