Manchester City travel to the City Ground on Saturday in fine form and keeping the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
The Blues briefly hit the summit with a 3-0 with a over West Ham,
but Arsenal’s 1-0 victory at Everton on Saturday evening ensured they Gunners were the Premier League’s Christmas number one.
The face a Forest side that have had their early season problems and already have their third manager of the season installed. They started the 25/26 campaign with Nuno Espirito Santo, who they sacked on 8th September and replaced by Ange Postecoglou a day later. The former Spurs boss suffered a torrid time and was eventually dismissed on 18th October, having failed to win any of his eight matches in charge.
Former Burnley and Everton boss Sean Dyche, who appears to have become the new Sam Allardyce, took charge and has, for now, guided Forest away from the bottom three.
Form
Since an opening day win over Brentford, Forest lost six of their nine Premier League matches. Defeats at home to fellow strugglers West Ham (0-3) and new boys Sunderland (0-1) and another 3-0 loss to Chelsea left Forst in the relegation zone, but Dyche’s arrival has steadied the sinking ship a little.
After losing 2-0 at Bournemouth in Dyche’s first Premier League match in charge, Forest were nine minutes from beating Manchester United. Dyche’s first win was a 3-1 home win over Leeds, before leading them to a 3-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield. An erratic run of form saw Forest lose 2-0 at home to Brighton, win 1-0 at Wolves, lose 3-0 at Evertone before beating Spurs at home by the same scoreline.
There last outing was a 1-0 loss at Fulham and Saturday’s result will depend on which Forest team show up on the day.
Ones to Watch
Morgan Gibbs-White, Nicolo Savona and Callum Hudson-Odoi all have three goals for Forest so far this season. Gibbs White scored in three successive games against United, Leeds and Liverpool, while Hudson Odoi- and Savona bother scored in the 3-0 win over Spurs.
Some familiar faces occupy the Forest squad. Oleksandr Zinchenko joined on loan from Arsenal over the summer, while James McAtee moved to the City Ground for £30m at the end of August. Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz joined City in 2017 before leaving for Aston Villa, while goalkeeper Angus Gunn started his senior career at the Blues, before working his way to Forest via Norwich, Southampton, Stoke and Noriwch again before finally arriving in Nottingham.
The Boss
As mentioned, Sean Dyche is now the head coach at Forest and he hasn’t made a bad start to life at the City Ground. From 13 matches in charge, Dyche has won seven and lost four, giving him a win ratio of 54%.
Last Time Out
City’s erratic form cost them dearly at the City Ground last season. The Blues toiled for a goalless 83 minutes until Hudson-Odoi scored the winner for Forest to condemn City to another Premier League defeat in a miserable campaign.
