Manchester City will square up against Nottingham Forest in search of their 17th win in the 2022/23 Premier League season.
Nottingham Forest are all set to host title contenders Manchester City on Saturday. City are currently top of the league and will look to extend their stay at the top with an away win against at City Ground. Meanwhile, the home team will look to bounce back to winning ways after suffering a defeat in their last league fixture.
The Nottinghamshire-based club are heading into this encounter on the back of a 2-0 defeat at the hands of seventh-placed Fulham. They will be looking to bounce back to winning ways but have a tough challenge on their hands.
Nottingham have been in decent form in the Premier League of late if we exclude the defeat in their previous outing. In the last five fixtures, they have won three and lost only once. It has been a great run for Steve Cooper’s men.
They are currently 14th in the league with 24 points out of their 22 matches. Ten out of their 24 points have come in the last five matches. They are six points clear of the relegation zone. And, Cooper would love to add a few more points to that when they host City.
As far as Pep Guardiola’s men are concerned, they have finally managed to sit at the top of the points table thanks to their win over rivals Arsenal. Their win over the Gunners has opened up the title race and they will be eager to keep hold of the top spot with a win on Saturday.
City are top of the Premier League with 51 points out of their 23 matches. They are level on points with second-placed Arsenal who have a game in hand. Guardiola’s men have won four out of their last fixtures in the league.
The visitors have momentum with them, and their win over the Gunners would have given them the belief that they can once again lift the Premier League. Arsenal will be playing earlier in the day, and Manchester City will be fully aware of what is needed to keep hold of the top spot.
In the earlier meeting between the two teams, Manchester City came out on top. Erling Haaland’s hat-trick stole the show as City put six past Forest on the night. This will be City’s first visit to Forest in over twenty years, and it won’t be that easy a task for Pep Guardiola’s men. It will be an interesting battle between the two teams, and The Hard Tackle takes a closer look into the teams and the tactics they can deploy.
Team News and Tactics
Nottingham Forest
Steve Cook can return to the squad after the hosts contacted the Premier League over relaxing their squad rules to allow him to come into their 25-man group. They have made the request due to long-term injuries to Willy Boly and Scott McKenna.
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) February 17, 2023
Steve Cooper will be without the services of Dean Henderson, Moussa Niakhate, Taiwo Awoniyi, Giulian Biancone, Omar Richards, and Cheikhou Kouyate. Meanwhile, Jesse Lingard and Ryan Yates are also unavailable for this fixture.
Steve Cooper will go ahead with the 4-3-1-2 formation. Keylor Navas, who is on loan from Paris Saint-Germain will start in goal. With McKenna and Boly out, Felipe and Joe Worrall will be the centre-back pairing. Serge Aurier and Renan Lodi will once again start as full-backs.
After an impressive outing against Fulham as a substitute, Jonjo Shelvey can make it into the XI. He is likely to start alongside Danilo and Remo Freuler in the midfield. The trio will sit in front of the defence, and Morgan Gibbs-White will feature as the attacking midfielder. Leading the lines will be the duo of Brennan Johnson and Newcastle United loanee Chris Wood.
Probable Lineup (4-3-1-2): Navas; Aurier, Worrall, Felipe, Lodi; Danilo, Freuler, Shelvey; Gibbs-White; Johnson, Wood
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola will be without the services of John Stones, who is out with a hamstring injury. Apart, from Stones, Manchester City do not have any suspensions or injuries to worry about.
🔛🔝#ManCity | @okx pic.twitter.com/uDxkjfzvp9
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 17, 2023
In their last outing against Arsenal, Guardiola used Bernardo Silva as a makeshift left-back when out of possession. He could once again deploy that tactic, City is expected to start with 3-2-4-1 formation. Ederson will start in goal, Rico Lewis, Ruben Dias, and Aymeric Laporte will be the three center-backs.
Silva will start alongside Rodri as the holding player. The Portuguese midfielder will feature in a holding role when in possession. But when they lose the ball, he is expected to drop in a left-back role and convert the back three into a back four.
Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, and Jack Grealish will be the midfield four behind the league’s top scorer Erling Haaland.
Probable Lineup (3-2-4-1): Ederson; Lewis, Dias, Laporte; Rodri, Bernardo Silva; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish; Haaland
Key Stats
- Nottingham Forest are hosting Manchester City in a Premier League match after more than two decades. They last met at the City Ground in September 1995.
- Manchester City have a chance to complete a top-flight double against Forest for the first time since the 1990/91 season. They had won the reverse fixture 6-0 in August courtesy of a Erling Haaland hat-trick.
- Nottingham Forest are on a seven-match unbeaten run at home. They have won four and drawn three.
- Manchester City have come out on top in their last nine top-flight fixtures against newly-promoted opposition.
- Erling Haaland is all set to become Manchester City’s highest goal scorer in a Premier League season. Currently, he is level with Sergio Aguero’s final tally in the 2014/15 season having scored 26 already.
Player to watch out
Erling Haaland
Haaland will once again be in the limelight when he takes the field against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. There is a possibility of him breaking multiple records in the upcoming fixture. The Real Madrid target is the man who could once again decide the fate of this fixture.
The former Borussia Dortmund striker did back in August when he scored a hattrick against Nottingham. With 26 goals in the Premier League, he is leading the race for the Golden Boot and is likely to extend his nine-goal lead over Harry Kane (17 goals).
Prediction
Nottingham Forest 0-4 Manchester City
Steve Cooper’s men do not have enough in their tank to get past this Manchester City team. While they will try their best to stop the likes of Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, and Kevin De Bruyne, they are unlikely to succeed in doing that.
Pep Guardiola will head into this fixture with only one thing in mind, which will be to win at any cost. With that in mind, The Hard Tackle predicts a 4-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest at the hands of Manchester City.
