We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at the City Ground with our Nottingham Forest vs Man City prediction and preview. A crucial game in the race for Champions League qualification awaits.
Nottingham Forest vs Man City Stats: The Key Insights
The Opta supercomputer tips Manchester City for victory, with Guardiola’s side taking three points in 47.6% of simulations. Chris Wood has been involved in 11 goals in his last nine Premier League games (8 goals, 3 assists). No team has scored more Premier League goals in 2025 than Man City (21 – level with Liverpool).When Nottingham Forest were promoted to the Premier League in 2022, few would have thought that not even three seasons later they would host Manchester City in a pivotal Champions League qualification tie, but here we are.
With third and 10th place separated by just six points, there is no margin for error as it looks increasingly like Champions League qualification will go down to the wire. A loss for City could see them leapfrogged by Chelsea and Newcastle United, though a win would put them back in contention for perhaps even a second-place finish.
The same can be said of Forest, who could move within three points of Arsenal with a win, or drop as low as fifth with a loss. The hosts’ league form has been a bit shaky recently, though – winless in their last three Premier League games since beating Brighton 7-0 last month (D1 L2). They last went four without a win in April 2024 (D1 L3), the fourth game of which was a 2-0 home loss to Man City, a run that Nuno Espírito Santo will not want to repeat.
A penalty-shootout victory over Ipswich Town in the FA Cup fifth round on Monday will have boosted morale, but the extra efforts needed could also have hindered Forest’s preparations. City enjoyed two extra days of recovery and did not have to play extra-time last Saturday in their comeback cup win over Plymouth Argyle.
Fans should be in for an entertaining contest as two of the most prolific strikers in England go toe-to-toe in Erling Haaland and Chris Wood, who have 38 league goals between them this season (20 for Haaland, 18 for Wood).
Haaland’s contributions have been instrumental for City despite the club’s general dip in form – he habitually scores at key moments. Of the Norwegian’s 20 Premier League goals this season, 13 have either put Man City one goal ahead (9) or drawn them level (4) in the game. No player has scored more such goals in the competition this season (Mohamed Salah also 13).
Wood is enjoying something of a career resurgence, and the 33-year-old target man is the only Forest player to have found the net against City since the Tricky Trees’ return to the top flight in 2022, scoring in a 1-1 draw at the City Ground in February 2023.
It would be no great surprise to see him do it again, either. Wood is in the form of his life, having been involved in 11 goals in his last nine Premier League matches (8 goals, 3 assists). That includes his hat trick in Forest’s 7-0 dismantling of Brighton last month.
Forest are a well-balanced side, too, as solid defensively as they are productive up front. That’s thanks in large part to Matz Sels. The Belgian goalkeeper is on course for a historic season, leading the charge for the Golden Glove with 11 clean sheets so far this campaign. Only Mark Crossley in 1994-95 (13) has recorded more clean sheets in a season for Forest, leaving Sels with 11 matches to beat that total.
They are in good company when looking at defensive metrics. Only league leaders Liverpool (12) have kept more clean sheets in the Premier League this season than Forest (11), who could keep three consecutive shutouts at home in the league for the first time since April 2022 in the Championship.
While the numbers seem to lean in favour of Forest, it is important to consider City’s strong form. No team has scored more Premier League goals than them in 2025 (21 – same as Liverpool), and only Liverpool (22) and Arsenal (18) have won more points than City (16 – W5 D1 L2) in the same period.
Their run of positive results has seen Guardiola’s struggling champions return to the top four; though this could be more of a curse than a blessing. Since the start of November, this is Man City’s eighth Premier League game starting the day in the top four of the table. They’ve taken just one point from the previous seven in this run, conceding at least twice in each match (19 in total).
In terms of team news, Guardiola said this week that Rodri is back in light training, but is still far from a return to competitive play. There are no new injury worries for his side, with Nathan Aké, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Oscar Bobb all still sidelined.
Forest boast a near spotless bill of health, with backup goalkeeper Carlos Miguel the only absence.
Nottingham Forest vs Man City Head-to-Head
It was Manchester City who came out on top in the reverse fixture in early December, winning 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium thanks to goals from Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jérémy Doku.
Man City have won their last three Premier League games against Forest by an aggregate score of 7-0. A win on Saturday would mark the first time in the club’s history that they have managed four consecutive top-flight wins over the Tricky Trees.
Forest have failed to win any of their last nine league games against City (D2 L7), most recently doing so in December 1997, winning 3-2 at Maine Road.
Nottingham Forest vs Man City Prediction
The Opta supercomputer predicts a Manchester City win, with the visitors victorious in 47.6% of simulations.
Forest are already rather unlikely heroes of this campaign, outperforming many pundits’ expectations, and the supercomputer sees them beat City in just 27.9% of simulations. A draw occurs in the remaining 24.5%.
Nottingham Forest vs Man City Predicted Lineups
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
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Nottingham Forest vs Man City Prediction Opta Analyst.
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