Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest (Premier League): Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How To Watch | OneFootball

After a hard fought win against Daniel Farke’s Leeds United, Manchester City must now turn their attention to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest.

On Saturday evening, Pep Guardiola’s side were put to the test by 15th placed Leeds in what will go down as one of their most disciplined performances of the season to date, and coming at a crucial point in their campaign.

The match took every drop of patience the Blues had within them, with the Whites’ defence having the answer to almost everything thrown their way, and it would take until the brink of half-time for Manchester City to grab the opener.

Rayan Cherki’s inch perfect pass found Rayan Ait-Nouri, who drilled the ball across the six-yard box for the perfectly positioned Antoine Semenyo to finish, giving City the lead with one of the last actions of the first half.

From there it was a performance defined by discipline, with City’s defence taking the spotlight, in a match that marked City’s 12th clean sheet of the season – a number that, at one point, may have seemed unthinkable with the defensive struggles we have seen in the last year.

Despite the low scoreline, the performance was the kind that makes all the difference when titles are on the line; a win against a tough side who had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Furthermore, there were several performances that will no doubt stand out to Pep Guardiola as he selects his teams for some incredibly tricky upcoming matches. Next up is Nottingham Forest, with Vitor Pereira’s side currently in 17th and just two points above the relegation zone.

As was the case with Leeds United last time out, every single point counts for them as they look to secure their spot in the Premier League next season. Forest come into this one in poor form with just one win from their last 10 Premier League matches – a stark contrast to City, who have won their last eight in a row.

For Forest, the objective is clear in needing to avoid the drop into the Championship at all costs. For Manchester City, keep the pressure on Arsenal, with only five points separating the two sides coming into the latest set of matches.

The stakes for both sides are season defining, however, you might argue the the pressure is well and truly on Pep Guardiola’s men to get all three points. And here is everything you need to know ahead of Wednesday night’s clash!

Match Details

Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest will take place at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday 4 March, with kick-off scheduled for 19:30 (UK).

Match Officials

The match at the Etihad Stadium will be overseen by referee Darren England, with his last outing involving Pep Guardiola’s side being a the 0-3 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in December.

You can see the full list of match officials below!

Team News

Manchester City come into this with a relatively short injury list – a rarity so far this season. Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic both miss out with a tibial fracture and a heel injury respectively, while Max Alleyne is still thought to be unavailable after injury against Salford.

Nico O’Reilly was withdrawn from the Leeds game after a knock to his ankle, but has since been pictured in training this week so could still feature against Nottingham Forest. Erling Haaland missed out at the weekend after a minor injury in training, but is likely to be available for this match. Decisions on both players are to be made on Tuesday.

For Nottingham Forest, Chris Wood, John Victor, Nicolo Savona, and Willy Boly will all miss out through injury. Former Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega is also a doubt having missed out on the last match through injury.

Press Conference Quotes

Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland (and Nico O’Reilly’s) fitness: “He feels much better, but yesterday we didn’t train and now we have training. We’ll decide today.”

On receiving advice from Vitor Pereira earlier in his career: “I’m pretty sure he gave me the good ones, and I gave the s**t ones.”

“We are five points behind Arsenal, we cannot drop points.”

Head To Head

Manchester City and Nottingham Forest have faced off against each other a total of 98 times since their first clash back in 1899. Of those 98, City have won 46 matches to Forest’s 38.

In the last 10 matches in all competitions between the two sides, Forest have avoided defeat just three times, with one win and two draws against the Blues. As far as league football is concerned, they have only avoided defeat just the once across the last ten matches.

At home, Manchester City have not lost to Nottingham Forest since 2009 in the FA Cup campaign. Their last league home defeat coming back in 1997, back when City called Maine Road home.

Last time out, City walked away with all three points after a 1-2 win at the City Ground. Goals from Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki were enough to cancel out Omari Hutchinson’s 54th minute goal, with the Frenchman’s winner coming largely against the run of play.

Statistics

Manchester City have now won 14 of their 18 Premier League matches without Erling Haaland since 2022-23

Since returning to the Premier League in 2022-23, Nottingham Forest have lost all three of their away Premier League games against Manchester City without scoring, conceding 11 times.

Nottingham Forest’s three Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium have been lost by an aggregate score of 11-0. It’s one of three instances a side has failed to score while shipping 10+ goals at a single stadium in the competition.

Manchester City have won 16 of their last 19 Premier League home games (D2 L1), at least three more than any other side since April 2025.

Manchester City enter the upcoming Wednesday night clash on a massive streak, having gone unbeaten in their last 31 matches played on Wednesdays (27 wins, 4 draws).

In just six appearances against Nottingham Forest, Erling Haaland has already scored five goals. He needs just one more goal to equal Niall Quinn’s all-time fixture record of six goals.

Since returning to the Premier League in 2022, Nottingham Forest have conceded more goals in the final 15 minutes of matches than any other team in the division, with 53 late concessions as of December 2025.

Where To Watch

Those in the UK will be able to watch on TNT sports and Discovery +.

Radio coverage will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live.

A full list of global TV listings for Wednesday’s match can be found HERE!

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on X, Facebook and Instagram throughout the matchday, with content also on cityxtra.co.uk!