Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest Prediction: City’s struggles to continue?

Manchester City have now lost their last four Premier League games in a row, after Liverpool downed them 2-0 at Anfield to extend their lead at the top of the table. City have also failed to win their last seven games in all competitions, and Pep Guardiola sits in the middle of the worst run of results in his managerial career. 

The Citizens will look to fix that as they welcome Nottingham Forest to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night (19:30, Amazon Prime). Below you will find my Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest prediction featuring team news and betting tips. 

Team News

Manchester City’s injury crisis is still causing massive problems that Pep is seemingly unable to solve. The big absentee is Rodri, who will miss the remainder of the season with an ACL injury, while John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Oscar Bobb are all also still sidelined. 

The positive on Sunday afternoon was the return of Jeremy Doku, who is back fit after his thigh problem, while Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne also both came off the bench and could be ready to start. 

Those names should give a fresh vibe to City’s attack, and we are surely unlikely to see Rico Lewis and Matheus Nunes line up in the wide midfield positions again. Savinho and Doku would provide more thrust and perhaps create more chances for Erling Haaland, who has been quiet in recent weeks. Another big decision for Guardiola will come in goal, after he chose to drop Ederson for Stefan Ortega against Liverpool, a decision I expect him to reverse on Wednesday night. 

Danilo and Ibrahim Sangare remain the only absentees for Nuno Espirito Santo, as both Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White recovered from their knocks to make the squad against Ipswich Town. Elanga had to settle for a place on the bench, and only came on late on. After his replacement Jota Silva won a penalty, it will be interesting to see which winger the manager plumps for, as Elanga lost his place in the starting XI due to a shoulder issue. 

Gibbs-White is certain to start again behind Chris Wood, who scored again in the 1-0 win over Ipswich Town. Neco Williams came in to start in that win, and helped the Tricky Trees keep a clean sheet, but Alex Moreno is pushing to win his place back on the left-hand side of the defence. 

James Ward-Prowse could be given some minutes from the bench, but the fine form of Elliot Anderson and Ryan Yates is currently keeping him out of the team. The former Southampton captain was an unused substitute at the weekend. 

Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest Odds 

Manchester City are the favourites to win this game, priced at 1/3, which gives them an implied win probability of 75%. Nottingham Forest are available at 8/1, a draw is 9/2 and over 2.5 goals is 8/15. BTTS is 5/6 and Haaland is the favourite to score first at 5/2.

Double Chance: Draw or Nottingham Forest and BTTS @ 7/2

I simply cannot back Manchester City to win a game of football at this moment in time, and they are still remarkably short to win here which means there is good value to be had. The return of key wide players should help their attack, but their midfield still looks weak without Rodri and we aren’t sure if De Bruyne will be fit enough to start and plug that gap. 

Defensively, they look all over the show, with Kyle Walker out of form and a lack of dominance and balance at centre-back. I think Forest possess the quality and the attributes to hurt this City side, with plenty of threats throughout. Gibbs-White and Anderson should cause problems while Wood is in fine form, and is only three goals behind Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot. 

We can boost our odds by backing both teams to find the net at the Etihad. City are poor defensively right now, but still boast the world’s best striker up front. We should see an entertaining clash, but one I think the home side will fail to win.

Nottingham Forest to score first @ 5/2

This Nottingham Forest team is full of confidence, in contrast to their hosts. I’ve had success at a bigger price than this for a Manchester City home game, as I successfully backed Ipswich Town to score first earlier in the campaign. The Etihad is going to be a nervy place given their shocking recent form, and I’m not sure the new breed of City fans know how to deal with losses. 

I predict a frosty atmosphere on a cold Wednesday night that Forest could take advantage of early on. Nuno will tell his players to come out of the blocks quickly and put City under pressure, and so I think backing the Reds to find the first goal at 5/2 offers great value. If you want a specific player, Wood is priced at a massive 10/1 to open the scoring. 

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