Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City Preview

Second meets 19th at The City Ground on Saturday evening, with Manchester City three points off the top of the Premier League and Nottingham Forest without a win in five league games. City come in off a 3-2 win at RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday. Forest, by contrast, have had a full week since their 2-0 defeat at Brentford. Kick-off is at 5:30pm GMT.

Forest are without a win in five league games, with four defeats and a draw, and they have scored just twice in that run. Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Brentford was the latest, eight days after a 1-1 draw at Ipswich. Before that, they lost 1-0 at home to Arsenal and 3-1 at Crystal Palace, while the oldest result is a 1-0 home defeat to Coventry. Both of Forest’s games at The City Ground in the sample ended in 1-0 defeats, and they failed to score in three of the five matches.

Wednesday’s 3-2 win at RB Leipzig in the Champions League was City’s latest result, four days after a 1-0 home defeat to Brighton in the league. Three days before that, they beat the same opponents on penalties in the Carabao Cup after a 2-2 draw. Further back, they lost 2-1 at Aston Villa and won 5-1 at home to AEK Athens in Europe. That makes three wins and two defeats, with 11 goals scored and eight conceded. Both league games in the sample ended in defeat, and City have had three days to recover from Leipzig, four fewer than Forest.

City have won three of the last five meetings, with Forest winning one and the other drawn. The most recent was a 2-2 draw at the Etihad in March 2026, and before that City won 2-1 at The City Ground in December 2025. City also beat Forest 2-0 in the FA Cup in April 2025, a month after Forest’s only win in the sample, a 1-0 home victory in March 2025. The oldest meeting was a 3-0 City win at home in December 2024. Forest are winless in the last three meetings.

Manchester City sit second in the Premier League on 21 points, three behind leaders Arsenal, while Nottingham Forest are 19th on six. A Forest win would take them to nine points and out of the bottom three, up to 16th on current standings.

In the UK, the match is live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League, with streaming on NOW and Sky Go and radio commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live. US viewers can watch on NBC or stream it through Peacock and fuboTV, with Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo.

Possible Lineups

Nottingham Forest — Form

Manchester City — Form

Head to Head

Where to Watch

Table

Premier League Standings