Manchester City vs Nottingham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-09-22 14:00.
Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the Premier League (PL) campaign (W5) by coming from behind to beat West Ham United 3-1, a trick they repeated against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Tuesday (W 3-1). With games coming thick and fast, manager Pep Guardiola’s squad is being stretched and after Bernardo Silva limped off in midweek, with the Spaniard claiming the club is “in trouble”.
Guardiola insisted his side “will go for it” no matter the length of his injury list, but he may be looking to shuffle the pack with a tricky Carabao Cup tie at Newcastle following this PL meeting with Nottingham Forest. The City boss could have Mateo Kovačić to call upon as they look to extend a run of 12 consecutive home league wins, something they’ll certainly be confident of achieving given that they’ve beaten Forest ‘to nil’ in each of the last three home league H2Hs.
With one of the biggest squads in the league, Forest are perhaps better equipped than their hosts to cope when injuries hit and thanks to Callum Hudson-Odoi’s stunning strike against Burnley on Monday (D 1-1), they ended matchday five inside the top-eight (W2, D1, L2). A slightly underwhelmed manager Steve Cooper said afterwards that he wants his side “to be winning games, but we’ll have to take the point” – a result they’d almost certainly take again here.
Points at home since their return to the PL have been crucial for the Tricky Trees, as until they beat Chelsea 1-0 in their last away league outing, they hadn’t won such a fixture since January (D3, L9). That was despite posing a consistent attacking threat, having scored in each of their last seven league road games including trips to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.
Players to watch: Julián Álvarez was Man City’s hero on Tuesday night and all four of his goals this term came at home after the 30th minute. Hudson-Odoi became the first man since Geoff Thomas in 1998 to score on his Forest PL debut on Monday, and netted in injury time against Man City for Chelsea in January 2021.
Hot streak: None of Manchester City’s last five matches featured scoring before the 30th minute.