Man City v Nottingham Forest

Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest Preview

Manchester City's slide in form and results in the Premier League continued on Sunday afternoon when Pep Guardiola's City side were dealt a disappointing 2-0 defeat away from home at Liverpool, making it four league defeats on the trot.

Nottingham Forest bounced back from two losses on the trot in the English top flight to grab all three points with a 1-0 home win against Premier League strugglers, Ipswich Town, over the weekend.

Only one point separates fifth placed Manchester City from their sixth placed visitors now ahead of Wednesday night's clash at the Etihad Stadium and the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Brighton have all benefitted from The Citizens' alarming slump in form as a result.

Recent defeats to Bournemouth, Brighton, Tottenham and Liverpool now means Manchester City find themselves a significant 11 points adrift of the league leaders and on the verge of effectively being ruled out of a title challenge this season.

Three of these four losses have been incurred away from home though and although they were handed a 4-0 rout on home soil to Tottenham, that has been Manchester City's only slip-up at their Etihad Stadium since mid-November 2022, spanning some 36 home games in the Premier League.

Nottingham Forest returned to winning ways in a narrow and unconvincing 1-0 home win against Ipswich Town but nevertheless, the Tricky Trees have lifted themselves up into sixth place and on the fringes of the European spots in the Premier League table ahead of this midweek fixture.

Despite previously being handed back-to-back defeats by Newcastle United and Arsenal respectively, the east midlands visitors have collected four wins from their last six matches overall, courtesy of claiming important wins against Crystal Palace, Leicester City, West Ham and Ipswich Town respectively.

The bigger picture shows Nottingham Forest have well and truly turned a corner since the arrival of former Wolves and Tottenham manager, Nuno Espírito Santo as the visitors have slipped to just three defeats within their previous 14 games overall in the Premier League.

Forest's form and results away from home have also received a boost from their turnaround in form overall as the east midlands club have suffered just a single defeat from their last eight outings on the road, whilst picking up five wins in the process as well.

Interestingly, five out of Nottingham Forest's last eight away games in the Premier League have also resulted in Over 2.5 goals being scored.

Manchester City v Nottingham Forest Verdict

Four league defeats on the trot for Manchester City is unprecedented and suggests the straight win markets should be avoided here but nine out of City's 13 matches so far this season have resulted in Over 2.5 goals (69.2%).

Therefore, our main bet will be Over 2.5 goals @ 1.57

Other side bets worth considering:

Over 2.5 goals & BTTS Yes @ 2.20

Correct Score: Manchester City 2-1 @ 9.50