Nottingham Forest vs Man City Prediction: Betting Tips & Odds

Nottingham Forest are still waiting for their first Premier League goal at the City Ground this season, and Man City are the next visitors on Sunday morning NZT. Kickoff is at 6:30am. 

Forest are 19th with six points from nine games, while City are second despite losing their last two league matches.

I’ve steered clear of the match result in this Nottingham Forest vs Man City preview. My best bet is a goals market priced a touch under $2, and Forest’s home record is the main reason for it. You can follow it from the first whistle on the best live betting sites.

Nottingham Forest

Forest have scored six goals in nine league games, which is a strange return for a side that rarely struggles to get shots away.

Their 2-0 defeat at Brentford on 31 October followed a pattern I’ve seen from them a few times now. They had 15 shots and only one was on target, and Brentford’s opener was a Nikola Milenkovic own goal on the half-hour.

Liam Delap was supposed to fix some of this. He has one league goal since joining from Chelsea, and he hooked an early chance high over the bar at Brentford.

Morgan Gibbs-White is still their most dangerous player for me. He’s been setting chances up all season, but for strikers who can’t finish. Those on the best sports betting apps NZ hunting a Forest goalscorer has a short list to choose from.

I won’t write them off completely. They pushed City close here last December, and it took an 83rd-minute goal from Rayan Cherki to settle a 2-1 win.

Team News: Savona and Igor Jesus are out, as is Dominguez.

Predicted Lineup: Sels; Cunha, Milenkovic, Murillo; Aina, McAtee, Schlager, Williams; Ndoye, Gibbs-White; Delap.

Man City

Elliot Anderson’s 76th-minute equaliser secured Forest a 2-2 draw at the Etihad in March. He’s back at the City Ground on Sunday in a City shirt after a reported £116 million move over the summer.

City’s league form is the bigger talking point for me. They lost 2-1 at Aston Villa and then 1-0 at home to Brighton, where Yasin Ayari scored in the 11th minute.

City weren’t short of the ball against Brighton either. They had 21 shots and still couldn’t find a way past Bart Verbruggen.

Rotation could play a part. City had no fresh injury worries before their trip to Germany, but they’ll arrive in Nottingham three days after a Champions League away game, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few changes.

Erling Haaland is the reason I can’t give Forest much of a chance. He has nine league goals already, and Forest’s back three will need a far better day than they had at Brentford to deal with him.

Team News: Semenyo is out with a knee injury. City reported no other injury concerns before the Leipzig trip.

Predicted Lineup: Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O’Reilly; Anderson, Fernandez; Foden, Cherki, Doku; Haaland.

• Forest’s last Premier League home win came against Burnley in April.
• Forest have taken one point from their last four league games.
• City have won three of their four league away games this season.
• City have three clean sheets in nine league games.
• Forest haven’t beaten City since a 1-0 home win in March 2025.

Forest’s shot stats will tempt a few punters into backing them to score on Sunday. I’m going the other way.

A City win is the likeliest result, and I’ve got it at 2-0. Their defence hasn’t looked convincing for a few weeks, but Forest haven’t looked like a team that can punish that.

Over 2.5 goals at $1.62 doesn’t appeal to me either. It relies on City doing nearly all of the scoring, and they’ve managed one goal across their last two league games.

I did think about Haaland to score, but his price is too short to get excited about.

The danger is an early Forest goal. City conceded inside 15 minutes against Brighton, and a scrappy goal from a corner is how a team in Forest’s spot usually ends a drought like this. I wouldn’t be stunned by a 1-1, the exact result that sinks this bet.

Both Teams to Score - No @ $1.75

Forest have failed to score in five of their nine league games, and all four of their home games are on that list.

This bet also comes in with a 1-0 either way or a goalless draw. That gives me some cover if City are as wasteful as they were against Brighton.

It’s my pick of the markets at $1.75 if you’re planning to bet on football this weekend.