Nottingham vs Manchester City prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-02-17 15:00.
Nottingham Forest became the first club in Premier League (PL) history to substitute two starting players inside ten minutes against Fulham last time out as centre-backs Willy Boly and Scott McKenna both suffered injuries. They lost 2-0 after that early upheaval but still remain six points ahead of the relegation zone thanks to a prior five-match unbeaten league run (W3, D2).
Forest are still unbeaten at The City Ground since Fulham beat them in mid-September (W4, D3), but they’ll need all the help they can get against PL leaders Manchester City as they’re yet to beat a side that starts this round in the top eight at home this term (D1, L2). A first H2H here since both were in the First Division in 2001 will test all of their resources, including a reshuffled backline.
Man City’s midweek 3-1 win over Arsenal suggests they’ll make life difficult for the Forest defence as they returned to the PL summit with an impressive second-half performance. Having breezed to a 6-0 win against Forest in August by scoring three times in each half, they’ll want more of the same to consolidate that potentially season-turning result as they aim to become just the second club to win three PL titles in a row.
Victory ended a run of two straight PL away defeats, and funnily enough, manager Pep Guardiola didn’t describe their latest trip to London as “so exhausting”, as he did following their 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur! That loss was the only one of the Cityzens’ last six league away games in which they didn’t open the scoring, so they’ll likely be a threat from the start here.
Players to watch: Brennan Johnson has scored each of Forest’s last three PL goals at home, opening the scoring here in both of their last two home league games. For the visitors, Man City’s Kevin de Bruyne assisted Erling Haaland for a league-high sixth time this PL campaign against Arsenal.
Hot streak: Man City have won their last nine PL games against promoted sides while scoring an average of 3.56 goals per game.