Nottingham Forest vs Man City: Prediction, kick-off time, TV, live stream, team news, h2h results, odds | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola continues to close in on first-placed Arsenal

Man City mark their return from the Christmas holidays with a trip to face Nottingham Forest.

Pep Guardiola’s side are currently two points adrift of first-placed Arsenal, and will hope to keep the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s men win a win on Trentside.

After a slow start to this campaign, they remain mired in 17th place in the table, five points clear of the drop zone. They will be keen to extend that gap on Saturday.

Date, kick-off time and venue

Nottingham Forest vs Man City is scheduled for a 12.30pm GMT kick-off on Saturday, December 27, 2025.

The match will take place at the City Ground in Nottingham.

Picturesque: The City Ground

Getty Images

Where to watch Nottingham Forest vs Man City

TV channel: In the UK, the game will be televised live on TNT Sports 1, with coverage starting at 11am ahead of a 12.30pm kick-off.

Live stream: TNT Sports subscribers can also catch the contest live online via the Discovery+ app and website.

Live blog: You can follow all the action on matchday via Standard Sport’s live blog, with expert analysis.

Free highlights: The Sky Sports app and YouTube channel will show highlights from full-time, with Match of the Day broadcasting on BBC One at 10.25pm.

Nottingham Forest vs Man City team news

There are a handful of City absentees for this match, and Guardiola’s selection headaches are not helped by AFCON.

He will be without Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush as they represent Algeria and Egypt, respectively, at the tournament.

Elsewhere, Rodri remains sidelined with a niggling hamstring injury, as does Jeremy Doku.

Mateo Kovacic is a long-term absentee, and it remains unclear when Oscar Bobb will be back in contention.

John Stones is pushing to return, though, and could feature at the City Ground.

Guardiola has promised to weigh all his players on return from their Christmas holidays to ensure they did not overindulge over the break, so there could be yet more absentees if any member of the squad is deemed to have been excessively jolly.

Pep Guardiola is policing his players’ Christmas celebrations

AFP via Getty Images

Forest are also impacted by AFCON, with Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly both absent. Ola Aina would have been at the tournament with Nigeria if not for the hamstring injury he sustained on international duty earlier this season.

Chris Wood, Dan Ndoye, and Ryan Yates are all out until the new year.

Nottingham Forest vs Man City prediction

Beating City is always a big ask, and Dyche will be feeling the pressure for this clash.

With the brink of the relegation zone closer than ever, he desperately needs a good result, but that is not likely.

City are in superb form, with seven wins in seven, and there is little to suggest that run won’t become eight in eight.

Man City to win, 3-0

Head to head (h2h) history and results

These two sides met three times last season - twice in the League and once in the FA Cup. City came out on top in two of the three fixtures, but lost 1-0 at the City Ground.

Nottingham Forest wins: 32

Man City wins: 39

Draws: 25

Nottingham Forest vs Man City match odds

Nottingham Forest to win: 4/1

Man City to win: 8/15

Draw: 13/5

Odds via Betfair (subject to change).