Nottingham Forest’s upturn in form will be put to the test on Saturday as they host Premier League champions Manchester City at the City ground, with Pep Guardiola’s side looking to carry on their momentum from a monumental 3-1 win over Arsenal in midweek.
Forest have won three and drawn one of their last five games in the Premier League, and are slowly creeping away from relegation, with the tantalising 40 point mark that usually indicates safety just 16 points away, but they will find themselves hard pressed to narrow that gap further over the weekend with the Champions in town, and Steve Coopers’ squad in disarray.
Here’s how we expect the midlands outfit to line up, and the latest team news coming out of the City ground.
📰 Table Of Contents
Predicted XI
Team News
Both Scott McKenna and Willy Boly are set for long periods on the sidelines after picking up injuries in the 2-0 defeat to Fulham last weekend, Steve Cooper revealed ahead of the game.
“Scott McKenna is going to be out for six weeks, more or less. That’s a blow. Willy Boly is looking longer than three months.
“Not news we were hoping for. Obviously we were concerned when they walked off early at Fulham.
“They are ruled out for a while, which adds to out injury list but is something we have to get on with.”
❌ McKenna – “out for six weeks”
❌ Boly – “longer than 3 months”Bad news for Steve Cooper and Nottingham Forest 🤕 pic.twitter.com/ex2yKXpa2A
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 16, 2023
It leaves Forest with two fit central defenders for the clash against the Champions, and Cooper added that Niakhate remains someway off being fully fit, which has led the club to ask the Premier League to allow them to re-register Steve Cook after dropping him in January.
“Moussa Niakhate is closer to returning, not to full training yet but hopefully next week. That will be a positive step as he’s been out for a while, but he will have to play some games before he is ready for Premier League action.
“We have applied through Premier League rules to bring Steve Cook into the 25-man squad, which we’re hoping will be fine. I am expecting that to happen with circumstances we find ourselves in.”
And it is not just in central defence that Forest have problems. All of Dean Henderson, Cheikhou Kouyate, Taiyo Awoniyi, Omar Richards and Giulian Biancone remain sidelined, while both Ryan Yates and Jesse Lingard are touch and go for the clash with the reigning champions.
Though they have bought in an unfathomable number of players in the last two transfer windows, Forests’ squad is looking down to bare bones in places as they battle for Premier League survival.
