Nottingham Forest vs Man City Preview: Team News & Prediction

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Nottingham Forest are in trouble down at the bottom end of the Premier League table as they now welcome Manchester City to the City Ground on Saturday.

Kick-off date/time: 7 November 2026 at 5:30 pm

How to watch on TV & online: UK – Sky Sports & Sky Go / USA – NBC & Peacock

Nottingham Forest preview: Struggling Forest

Oliver Glasner took charge of Nottingham Forest in the summer and has overseen a real struggle at the start of this season with Glasner himself beginning to make some fairly open remarks about his position in press conferences.

Forest have managed just one win in their opening nine matches in the Premier League as they come into this one on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium last weekend.

Man City preview: Stuttering City

Enzo Maresca and his Manchester City side will be aware that a potentially huge points deduction looms but they maintained good form at the start of this season with seven wins from seven – but now head into this one on the back of a couple of losses.

After a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa, City then succumbed to a narrow 1-0 loss at home to Brighton and Hove Albion at the Etihad Stadium last week, whom they had required penalties to defeat in the fourth round of the EFL Cup a few days earlier.

Nottingham Forest team news: Searching for something

Oliver Glasner is searching for something to work with the former Crystal Palace boss even dropping big money summer signing Daniel Munoz to the bench last week but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Colombian return here.

Nicolas Dominguez is expected to be back available this weekend, albeit both Nicolo Savona and Igor Jesus do remain sidelined for the hosts.

Further details will appear here following pre-match press conferences…

Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Sels; Jair, Milenkovic, Murillo; Munoz, Schlager, McAtee, Williams; Ndoye, Gibbs-White; Delap

Unavailable: Savona (Injured), Jesus (Injured)

Questionable: Dominguez (Fitness)

Man City team news: Foden & Cherki debates

Surprisingly, Enzo Maresca left both Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki out of the starting lineup against Brighton last week but the pair returned to start against RB Leipzig in midweek.

After that one, it remains likely that Cherki keeps his place alongside Iliman Ndiaye but there remains a decent chance that Jeremy Doku returns ahead of Foden. Antoine Semenyo is set to be sidelined until mid-December.

Further details will appear here following pre-match press conferences…

Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Guehi, O’Reilly; Fernandez, Anderson; Ndiaye, Cherki, Doku; Haaland

Unavailable: Semenyo (Injured)

Questionable: 

Key stats

• Man City lead the Premier League head-to-head W6 D5 L3 in 14 meetings with Forest since 1992/93. 
• Forest's home record against City is W3 D1 L3; their last win was 1-0 on 8 March 2025, but City won 2-1 at the City Ground on 27 December 2025. 
• The most recent meeting finished 2-2 at City on 4 March 2026. 
• City's 6-0 home win on 31 August 2022 is the biggest win in the fixture; Forest's biggest is 3-0 at home on 30 September 1995. 
• Forest are 19th coming into Matchweek 10 with six points (W1 D3 L5); their only win was 2-1 at Aston Villa on 12 September, and they are winless in five since (D1 L4). 
• Forest have failed to score in all four home league games this season (0-1 vs Leeds, 0-0 vs Tottenham, 0-1 vs Coventry and 0-1 vs Arsenal) – the only team without a home goal in 2026/27. 
• Forest's last home league goal came in a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on 24 May 2026, and they are winless in six home league games (D3 L3). 
• Forest's six goals are the fewest in the division. 
• Man City are second, three points behind Arsenal, but have lost their last two league games – 2-1 at Aston Villa and 1-0 at home to Brighton – their first back-to-back league defeats since August 2025. 
• The Brighton defeat was the first time City had failed to score in a league game this season; their 20 goals are second only to Brighton's 24. 
• City have scored in 12 consecutive away league games since 1 February 2026 and have won three of four away this season (W3 L1), scoring nine. 
• Sam Barrott has refereed Forest 11 times in the Premier League (W5 D4 L2), a 45.5% win rate compared with their overall 30.4% since 1992/93; Forest are unbeaten in their last four games with him and have never lost at home under him (W2 D2). 
• City are W2 L2 in four Premier League games with Barrott, losing the most recent 2-1 at Newcastle on 22 November 2025. 

'Key stats' are Premier League only (not all competitions)

Nottingham Forest vs Man City prediction

After losing to The Seagulls last weekend, City did manage to get back on the winning track as they defeated RB Leipzig by three goals to two in the UEFA Champions League but, again, the performance was far from convincing albeit they remained a fun side to watch in Germany, at both ends of the pitch. Forest have hardly been a thrill, though, and their objective, as was the case in a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal a few weeks ago, will simply be to frustrate and strike on the counter-attack – which is Glasner’s preferred style. City should come out on top but it may not be their most entertaining game this season.

Nottingham Forest vs Man City tip: Man City to win & under 3.5 goals