Could Nottingham Forest be playing Manchester City at the worst time possible? The short answer is yes. After a ruthless performance away from home at Arsenal, the Citizens travel to the City Ground in a game that is widely seen to be a formality. However, the City Ground can be a hostile, intimidating place to go, even if you’re the defending champions.
Forest were dealt a huge blow when both Scott McKenna and Willy Boly went off with hamstring injuries in the 7th minute of the game against Fulham. Boly is out for three months, whereas McKenna is out for around six weeks. These injuries leave Forest short for options in defence, Worrall and Felipe are both fit and likely to start against Manchester City, but further reinforcements do not exist. Other deputies include Moussa Niakhate and Cheikhou Kouyate, but both are still sidelined and lacking fitness. Forest have asked the Premier League if they can reinstate Steve Cook into their 25-man squad, due to their injury crisis, but the probability of this coming to fruition is unlikely.
It is yet to be seen what sort of team Pep Guardiola will field. We all know Pep is prone to experimenting and his line-ups are very hard to predict, leading to fans calling his team selection ‘Pep Roulette’. City will have one eye on their Champions League tie against Red Bull Leipzig on the Wednesday, a competition that they’re eager to win. This could lead to Pep rotating a few of his star players. Phil Foden is likely to play after returned from injury and there could be rests for both Haaland and De Bruyne. The problem for Forest is that Haaland has a very handy deputy in Julian Alvarez, who hit two past the Reds at the Etihad in August.
One positive for Forest against Fulham was the introduction of Jonjo Shelvey. His passing range was on full display, providing a calm presence to the middle of the park, Cooper may look to give him a start over Mangala on Saturday. Orel Mangala has been very hit and miss in a Forest shirt, some games he looks imposing and a real presence in the team as a ball winner, whereas others he just goes missing, but there is definitely potential in his game. It will also be interesting to see if Steve Cooper persists with Chris Wood, his aerial presence could be useful against City, he has won 9/22 aerial duels in his first three matches and hasn’t found the net yet. With Sam Surridge eager for another chance up top, I’ll be keen to see if Cooper opts for pace in behind or the traditional big man, little man combination.
Serge Aurier will need to be on fine form on Saturday if Forest are to get a result. Aurier has a tendency to switch off, something that has plagued him his whole career. Whether he’s facing Foden or Grealish, he cannot afford a lapse in concentration. Yet, will Cooper hand a start to Neco Williams, I believe he will choose the experience of Aurier, but Williams impressed against Leeds and provides more of an attacking outlet, but his opportunities to get forward against City are going to be limited. Brennan Johnson has been in fine form proving his doubters wrong that he can be a Premier League starter. Three goals and one assist in his last four league games, shows he can deliver output and his linkup with Morgan Gibbs-White is only getting better, with the pair becoming a frightening duo, particularly on the counterattack.
In conclusion, Forest are lucky to have Keylor Navas in goal on Saturday, his leadership will be vital in organising an inexperienced Centre-Back duo through ninety-minutes against the scariest team in the league. My predictions have to be realistic because if I let my heart get involved I’ll look silly, I want to believe Forest can cause an upset, but I believe City have all momentum to snatch the title away from Arsenal.
Probable Line-Ups:
Nottingham Forest: Navas, Aurier, Worrall, Felipe, Lodi, Freuler, Shelvey, Mangala, Gibbs-White, Johnson, Wood.
Manchester City: Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Laporte, Ake, Rodri, Silva, De Bruyne, Foden, Alvarez, Haaland.
Score prediction: 0-2
*Article provided by James Bird (Nottingham Forest Correspondent).
*Main image @NFFC Keylor Navas in good spirits at training ahead of the weekend’s game.
