Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City (Premier League): Match Preview, Team News, Stats, Head to Head, How to Watch | OneFootball

Manchester City return to league action this weekend looking to secure a vital three points in the race for Champions League football as they face Nottingham Forest.

In their last fixture, City secured a place in a seventh successive FA Cup quarter-final round, emerging victorious via a 3-1 scoreline in a hard-fought victory against a resilient Plymouth Argyle side.

City dominated the majority of the game, having the lion’s share of possession and generating a lot of great chances, but struggled to apply that clinical finish, but continued to apply relentless pressure throughout the first-half with the Plymouth Argyle goal under siege.

Against the run of play, however, it was the Championship side who took the lead at the Etihad Stadium, with Maksym Talovierov climbing highest to head home from a corner to send over 7,000 travelling supporters delirious.

Just seconds before the interval, Nico O’Reilly latched onto a great set-piece delivery from Kevin De Bruyne, allowing him to guide his header past Conor Hazard, making the scores level at the half-time break.

Manchester City took the moral boost of the equaliser into the second half and continued to pile the pressure on the visitors but struggled to find the breakthrough. Finally, in the 76th minute, O’Reilly put the Blues in front, grabbing his second of the game with a thumping header at the back post following a Phil Foden corner.

The contest subsequently opened up, allowing more space for Manchester City to operate, eventually leading to substitute Erling Haaland squaring the ball to Kevin De Bruyne to seal a 3-1 victory for the Blues.

Manchester City’s opponents on Saturday come into the game in somewhat inconsistent league form with just one victory from the last five, drawing one and losing the other three. Since a 7-0 victory over Brighton, the only point Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have picked up in the league was at home in a relatively flat 0-0 draw two weeks ago.

In regard to league standings, City will be desperate to secure a win as they currently sit fourth, trailing Nottingham Forest by a point whilst having a superior goal difference – so this match has huge implications for both sides.

City are looking to secure Champions League football for a 15th consecutive season, while Forest will be looking to pull off a historic achievement with the former European champions sights set upon securing a place in the competition for the first time since 1990.

This match is incredibly significant for both sides as the race for UEFA Champions League places comes down to the wire in the final few months of the campaign, with both hungry to secure those qualifying places. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the contest!

Match Details

Manchester City travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest this Saturday afternoon with kick-off scheduled for 12:30 (UK).

Match Officials

The Premier League has confirmed that Chris Kavanagh will oversee proceedings as match referee as Manchester City face Nottingham Forest this Saturday lunchtime.

Check out the full list of match officials below!

Team News

Nigerian striker Taiwo Awoniyi is a doubt for Nottingham Forest against Manchester City after sustaining concussion and a broken nose in their tie against Exeter City in the FA Cup three weeks ago.

Substitute goalkeeper Carlos Miguel is also a doubt for the hosts after picking up a knock in the same fixture, with the Brazilian also absent from Forest’s most recent cup fixture against Ipswich Town.

As for Manchester City, Nathan Ake has been most recently added to the list of defensive injury woes, with the Dutch international ruled out for up to 11 weeks after undergoing surgery on a stress fracture in his foot.

The 30-year-old revealed in a statement this week that he had tried to play through the problem for months but could not continue any further, and was substituted at the interval against Plymouth Argyle after heavily limping and in some discomfort.

Oscar Bobb was photographed partaking in first-team training on Wednesday after being out for longer than expected with a fractured leg sustained at the beginning of the season, and following his recovery with an ankle issue in training in early February.

It is understood that the Norwegian is moving ever closer to a return to competitive first-team football, but Manchester City are reluctant to rush him back and it remains unknown if he will be part of the first-team squad travelling to Nottingham Forest this weekend.

John Stones and Manuel Akanji will be absent due to their longer-term injury concerns, joining Rodri on the sidelines for this one too, despite the Spaniard returning to the grass with the ball at his feet in recent days as part of an individual training programme.

Head to Head

These two sides have faced each other 84 times, with Manchester City securing 34 victories and Forest securing 26, and the honours have remained even on 24 occasions.

In their last clash, Manchester City emerged 3-0 victors, with Bernardo Silva opening the scoring early on before Chris Wood missed a golden opportunity one-on-one with Stefan Ortega flashing his shot wide of the target.

Wood would then rue those missed opportunities as Kevin De Bruyne would double Manchester City’s lead just a minute later, with Jeremy Doku sealing the three points early in the second half, topping off a dominant home victory back in December.

Statistics

Nottingham Forest are winless in their last nine league games against Manchester City (D2, L7) since a 3-2 win at Maine Road in the second tier in December 1997.

Manchester City have won their last three Premier League games against Nottingham Forest by an aggregate score of 7-0. They have never won four in a row against Forest in the top flight before.

Since the start of November, this is Manchester City’s eighth Premier League game starting the day in the top four of the table. They have taken just one point from the previous seven in this run, conceding at least twice in each match (19 in total).

As previously mentioned, Nottingham Forest are 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 Manchester City.

Nottingham Forest are 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 Manchester City.

Only Liverpool (22) and Arsenal (18) have won more points in the Premier League in 2025 than Manchester City (16 – W5, D1, L2), with no team netting more often in the top flight than the Blues this calendar year (21 – same as Liverpool).

Only league leaders Liverpool (12) have kept more clean sheets in the Premier League this season than Nottingham Forest (11), who could keep three consecutive shutouts at home in the league for the first time since April 2022 in the Championship.

How To Watch

For viewers in the United Kingdom, the match can be streamed live on TNT Sports 1 and Discovery+ with action getting underway at 12:30 PM GMT, while radio commentary is regionally available on BBC Radio Manchester.

For viewers in the United States, the match can be streamed live on multiple platforms such as NBC Sports from 6:30 AM (EST).

You can find full global TV listings for the match here!

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on our X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram channels throughout Wednesday evening, with content also provided on cityxtra.co.uk and YouTube!