Predicted Starting Line-Up: Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City will look to extend their seven-game winning streak with a trip to the City Ground on the Boxing Day weekend as they face Nottingham Forest. 

City travel in strong form having recently recorded a comfortable 3-0 victory over West Ham in the Premier League. Two goals from the ever-reliable Erling Haaland, along with a strike from Tijjani Reijnders, ensured the Blues remained just two points adrift at the summit of the table.

The result marked Manchester City’s sixth consecutive win across all competitions, further adding to the momentum Pep Guardiola’s side have built up at such a crucial stage of the season.

That winning run has been accompanied by a growing sense of control in City’s performances, with Guardiola’s side striking an effective balance between attacking fluency and defensive stability.

With fixtures coming thick and fast, rotation remains a key talking point, and Pep Guardiola may look to manage minutes carefully while maintaining the rhythm that has served his side so well in recent weeks.

Next up for City is Nottingham Forest as Sean Dyche’s team currently sit in 17th and just five points above the relegation zone. With two wins from their last five league games, Forest are going through a tougher season than anyone could have predicted after the highs of last season.

Dyche has yet to get the best of Pep Guardiola, with the two managers having faced off 18 times and 16 wins falling for the Manchester City boss, with the other contests being draws. Despite Guardiola’s overwhelmingly dominant head-to-head record, he will know that taking too many risks against a team like this would be foolish. With Dyche having reverted Forest back to the same tactical set-up as last season, this match-up could be a very interesting affair.

Here’s how we predict Manchester City will line-up on Saturday lunch-time at the City Ground!

Predicted XI

With another impressive performance against West Ham, Gianluigi Donnarumma will be looking for his eighth Premier League clean sheet against Nottingham Forest. The Italian has an extremely impressive 50% clean sheet to games ratio in the league with seven in 14 matches.

Defending Manchester City’s right flank will likely be Matheus Nunes. The Portugal international has enjoyed an excellent season, and his influence was again evident last time out. No player registered more touches (136), completed more passes (103), or recorded more successful dribbles (3) than Nunes against West Ham.

There would be very little reason to break up the defensive duo of Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol. The pairing has gone from strength to strength, with Dias returning to his commanding best and Gvardiol looking more and more comfortable in the central role.

With Rayan Ait-Nouri at AFCON, the only real option for the left-back spot is Nico O’Reilly. That is not to say that O’Reilly only starts when there is no one else to contest, though. The natural midfielder has gone on to surpass any and all expectations placed on him at the start of the season, emerging as one of City’s most important players.

Anchoring midfield, Nico is in line to make his 14th consecutive start for Manchester City. The 23-year-old leads the squad in accurate passes per 90 (68.1) and is only bettered by Nico O’Reilly for tackles per 90, registering 2.10 to O’Reilly’s 2.90.

While statistics rarely tell the full story, they help underline just how influential Gonzalez has been. Until Rodri returns, the holding midfield role firmly belongs to the former FC Porto star and Barcelona academy graduate.

Tijjani Reijnders‘ goal against West Ham was his ninth goal involvement this season for Manchester City. His performances have drawn some criticism, but with nine goal involvements in 24 games, clearly things are beginning to click for the Dutchman.

Partnering Reijnders could be Phil Foden, who finds himself in the midst of an incredible run of form. Pep Guardiola was openly critical of Bernardo Silva’s performance against West Ham, leaving questions over whether he will start this one. It may be the most sensible option to keep both Foden and Reijnders starting whilst they are both in such good form.

There may not be enough superlatives left to describe Rayan Cherki‘s impact. The Frenchman has instantly become a fan favourite and for good reason – 13 goal involvements in 22 appearances does not even tell the full story. Every week produces a new highlight reel, and the game against Forest will be yet another opportunity to impress.

Erling Haaland is all but guaranteed for another start. The superstar leads the Premier League golden boot race with 19 goals – as many as the second and third placed players Igor Thiago (11) and Hugo Ekitike (8) have combined. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who does not back him to add to that tally this weekend.

Savinho has struggled for form in the early stages of this season, but in the last four or five matches the 21-year-old has started to look more like the exciting player City fans came to love last season.

Nottingham Forest right-back Nicolo Savona has rather struggled defensively this season, so this may be a perfect opportunity for Savinho to make an impact off the left and gain some much-needed confidence.

Starting XI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Nico, Reijnders, Foden; Cherki, Haaland, Savinho.

Substitutes: Trafford, Lewis, Khusanov, Mfuni, Ake, Gray, Bernardo, Mukasa, R. Heskey.