Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City Prediction

Form Going Into This One

City's wider form sample shows 15 wins from 20 matches across all competitions, with 44 goals scored and 19 conceded. That run isn't flawless, though, with defeats away at Manchester United, Porto and Crystal Palace mixed in among the wins.

Nottingham Forest: 20 completed matches; Manchester City: 20 completed matches.

Nottingham Forest

20 matches

Win

30% 6 / 20

Draw

25% 5 / 20

Loss

45% 9 / 20

Scored

22

Conceded

28

Difference

-6

Manchester City

20 matches

Win

70% 14 / 20

Draw

15% 3 / 20

Loss

15% 3 / 20

Scored

46

Conceded

22

Difference

+24

Forest's equivalent sample is far more uneven: seven wins, five draws and eight losses from 20 games. Their most recent Premier League outing was a home defeat to Coventry, which doesn't suggest home advantage has been working in their favour lately.

Comparative Team Statistics: Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City

A History Favouring City, But Not Always

Looking back across the last nine meetings, City have won six, drawn two and lost just one to Forest. That's a clear long-term edge for the visitors.

But the two most recent fixtures tell a slightly different story: a 2-2 draw at City's ground in March, and a 1-0 Forest win the season before that. Recent meetings have been closer than the overall record implies.

The head-to-head still leans heavily towards City, but it isn't the one-way traffic it was a few seasons back.

League Positions Tell Part Of The Story

Just five games into the season, City sit top of the table with 15 points from five wins, scoring 13 and conceding just 5. Forest are down in 13th, having picked up only 5 points from one win, two draws and two defeats, with four goals scored and five let in.

That's a significant early gap between the two sides in pure league terms, though it's still a small sample this early in the campaign.

Five games is early, so these numbers reflect a snapshot rather than a settled picture of either side.

Key Men To Watch

Erling Haaland has scored five goals in his last five appearances for City, and Ryan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo have also been chipping in with goals and assists further forward. Phil Foden has added a couple of assists too, though he's picked up a red card in his last four outings.

Nottingham Forest:

Best assist providers:

M. Gibbs-White - 2

Penalty cards:

J. McAtee x 2

Manchester City:

Best scorers:

E. Haaland - 5

R. Cherki - 3

A. Semenyo - 2

Best assist providers:

A. Semenyo - 3

R. Cherki - 2

J. Gvardiol - 2

Penalty cards:

P. Foden x 1 x 1

For Forest, Morgan Gibbs-White has provided a couple of assists in recent matches, while James McAtee has been booked twice in his last five games.

How This One Could Play Out

Put the league table, recent form and head-to-head together, and City look like the stronger side on paper. Forest's home form this season hasn't been convincing, and their recent meetings with City have tended to produce goals at both ends.

Still, City's away form this season has included a few shaky results in cup competitions, so it would be wrong to treat anything here as a foregone conclusion.