Football
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City Preview, Prediction, Team News and Confirmed Lineups
Cai is a news and features writer that specialises in football, but has experience covering a variety of other sports, including darts, basketball, American football, MMA, boxing and more. He holds a degree in Football Journalism (BA Hons) from the University of Derby, and worked with Nottingham Forest FC and Burton Albion FC throughout his studies. Cai also has experience working in social media with the Football Association of Wales, where he worked on a freelance basis, and has also been an accredited writer in the JD Cymru Premier for both Y Clwb Pêl-Droed and welshfootie since the 2019/20 season.
Get to know Cai Parry betterPublished08 Mar 2025
Manchester City travel to the East Midlands to take on Nottingham Forest in the Premier League in Saturday’s early kick-off, and we’ve got the latest team news and confirmed lineups included in our preview.
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City Preview
With just a point separating the pair in third and fourth in the Premier League table, Nottingham Forest welcome Manchester City to the City Ground in Saturday’s early kick-off to get things underway in Gameweek 28.
Third-placed Forest come into this one off the back of a penalty shootout victory over Ipswich Town in the FA Cup fifth round on Monday. Prior to that, they held Arsenal to a goalless stalemate at home, and despite that being a strong result, they are now winless in three successive league outings, having lost to Newcastle and Fulham in the preceding fixtures.
Their last league victory came over a month ago, on the opening day of February, when they slaughtered Brighton 7-0 thanks to goals from Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams, Jota Silva, a Lewis Dunk own-goal and a Chris Wood hat-trick.
City, meanwhile, came from behind to beat giant-killers Plymouth Argyle 3-1 to book their spot in the FA Cup quarter-finals over the weekend, following on from a narrow 1-0 win over Tottenham last time out in the English top-flight.
This team 🤝🩵 pic.twitter.com/BH14o1Uq1P
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 5, 2025
After a dreadful couple of months in November and December, Pep Guardiola‘s side have somewhat steadied the ship but remain rather inconsistent, having lost four of their last eight across all competitions.
Of course, this includes two defeats to reigning Champions League winners Real Madrid, who overcame the Cityzens 6-3 on aggregate to send them crashing out of UEFA’s premier club football competition last month.
Nuno Espirito Santo has already gone head-to-head with Guardiola once this term, and it was the Spaniard that came out on top, as City claimed a 3-0 victory in the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium in Gameweek 14.
Nottingham Forest Team News
Forest boast just one injury concern ahead of City’s visit at the weekend, with second-choice goalkeeper Carlos Miguel missing out after suffering a thigh injury in the FA Cup fourth round against Exeter City.
With more or less a clean bill of health for the Reds, they should remain mostly unchanged from the draw with Arsenal.
Expect a backline of Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo and Williams in front of Matz Sels, along with a frontline of Anthony Elanga, Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Wood. Elliot Anderson and Nicolas Dominguez formed the midfield against the Gunners, but both, or one of, Ryan Yates and Danilo could come into the lineup.
Manchester City Team News
Long-term absentee Rodri remains sidelined after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury back in September, ed on the treatment table by John Stones (thigh), Manuel Akanji (thigh) and Nathan Ake (foot).
Oscar Bobb, who returned to training in January and is steadily building his fitness back up after a lengthy layoff with a broken leg, is still doubtful but is in contention to make Guardiola’s matchday squad.
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City Confirmed Lineups
Nottingham Forest Confirmed Lineup:
Sels, Murillo, Williams, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Wood, Hudson-Odoi, Dominguez, Elanga, Milenkovic; Aina.
Manchester City Confirmed Lineup:
Ederson, Nunes, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, Nico, Bernardo, Savinho, Foden, Doku, Haaland
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City Prediction
The UK’s best football betting sites have Manchester City as clear favourites to prevail in Saturday’s early kick-off, priced at around 9/10, while a victory for Forest is rated at around 29/10 and a draw is priced at 27/10.
As was proven when the pair last met, the Cityzens are clearly capable of hurting the Reds, and not only that, but the reigning champions are unbeaten in five consecutive matches against the East Midlands outfit.
When considering the above, as well as City’s upturn in form since January, we at SportsCasting expect Erling Haaland and co. to maintain their strong record against Forest with a somewhat comfortable victory at the City Ground.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City