Man City Vs Nottingham Forest Preview, Premier League: Match Prediction, Players To Watch – All You Need To Know

Pep Guardiola believes Erling Haaland is feeling "much better" after recovering from an injury he suffered in training, as Manchester City prepare for the Premier League run-in.

City are five points behind leaders Arsenal with 10 games remaining in their 2025-26 campaign, with the Gunners only having nine to play.

Nottingham Forest will visit the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, with Arsenal going to Brighton at the same time.

And Guardiola is hoping his team will be boosted by the return of the Premier League's leading scorer Haaland, who missed Saturday's 1-0 win at Leeds United with a knock.

"Erling feels much better but yesterday we didn't train and now we have training and will decide today," Guardiola told reporters. "It's the same with Nico [O'Reilly]. We will decide after training."

The Opta supercomputer still makes City outsiders for the title, with just a 15.9% chance of overhauling Arsenal. However, they have steamed past Mikel Arteta's Gunners at this stage of the season on two previous occasions, pipping them in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Before that, it was typically Liverpool that were frustrated by strong finishes by Guardiola's men, and with four trophies still in play for City, this is the time of year he enjoys most. 

"It's a privilege to be here in March. I believe wintertime is finished when February is over. So, in March at 5pm or 6pm it's not dark, it's still a little bit light... and we are in all the competitions so it's a dream. Again," Guardiola said.

"Except last season, where we fought for Champions League qualification and the FA Cup final, and the Champions League and Carabao Cup we were out, but now we are there.

"It's such a privilege knowing there are 10 games left and a final next Saturday against Newcastle [in the FA Cup], two games against Real Madrid... where if you win, you continue but if you lose, its holidays in that competition.

"So it's good to be here. But preparing for tomorrow is my only concern."

Forest, meanwhile, are in the unique position of targeting the Europa League trophy while also battling against relegation to the Championship, having lost 2-1 to Brighton on Sunday.

But head coach Vitor Pereira believes they are well-placed to meet both of their objectives, saying: "This is an ambitious club with an ambitious president. 

"We want to move forward in the Europa League, but we want with everything to be in the Premier League next season.

"Before I accepted the job, I looked through the schedule, I looked and I knew that it would be tough, but a very good challenge."

PLAYERS TO WATCH 

Manchester City – Nico O'Reilly 

In addition to Haaland, City are hoping to have another prolific player available in O'Reilly, who sustained a knock to his ankle against Leeds and had to be withdrawn.

O'Reilly has scored three goals in City's last two Premier League home games, and a goal here would make him only the second player to score in three successive home appearances in the competition for the club while aged 20 or younger, after Phil Foden in July 2020.

Nottingham Forest – Morgan Gibbs-White

Only Chris Wood (37) has scored more Premier League goals for Nottingham Forest than Gibbs-White (24, level with Bryan Roy). 

Gibbs-White's seven goals this season are his joint-most in a Premier League campaign (also seven in 2024-25), following his thunderbolt of a strike against Brighton.

MATCH PREDICTION – MANCHESTER CITY WIN

Guardiola has won 17 of his last 20 Premier League matches against Portuguese managers (D1 L2), including two wins over Forest boss Pereira when he was in charge of Wolves, in May 2025 (1-0) and August 2025 (4-0).

And under Guardiola, City have won 24 of their 26 Premier League games on a Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium (D2), averaging 2.85 points per game. That is the best figure by any side under one manager at home on a specific day of the week in Premier League history (10+ games played).

Across his spells at Wolves (10 games) and Forest (two), Pereira remains winless in the Premier League this season (D2 L10). 

Only two managers have taken charge of more games in a single campaign in the competition without winning: Paul Jewell in 2007-08 (24, all with Derby) and Terry Connor in 2011-12 (13, all with Wolves) – and his wait for three points looks likely to continue. 

City have won 16 of their last 19 Premier League home games (D2 L1), at least three more than any other side since April 2025.

And Forest's three Premier League games at the Etihad have been lost by an aggregate score of 11-0. It is one of only three instances where a side has failed to score while shipping 10 or more goals at a stadium in the competition, along with Birmingham City (no goals, 17 conceded) and Bradford City (no goals, 10 conceded), both at Old Trafford.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Manchester City – 72.7%

Nottingham Forest – 11.5%

Draw – 15.8%