Manchester City return to Premier League action on Wednesday evening against Nottingham Forest, and ex-England striker Chris Sutton believes that the Cityzens’ torrid winless run will continue.
Defeat to Liverpool in Gameweek 13 means that Manchester City are now without a victory in each of their last seven matches across all competitions, including defeats in each of their last four in the Premier League.
The reigning champions have suffered defeats to Tottenham (twice), Bournemouth, Sporting and Brighton, alongside their loss to the Reds last weekend, with their hopes of retaining the title slipping away rapidly.
Pep Guardiola’s side are 11 points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, currently in fifth place, while they are two points behind Arsenal and Chelsea in second and third.
City return to league action on Wednesday night against Nottingham Forest, who are just a point behind them in sixth place, where they’ll be looking to bring an end to their unprecedented poor run of form.
Chris Sutton Backs City To Draw and Arsenal To Beat Manchester United
Speaking to BBC Sport in his weekly predictions column, ex-England striker Chris Sutton claimed that Forest will be an awkward opponent for the out-of-form Cityzens and backed the pair to play out a 2-2 scoreline.
“Manchester City’s form has to turn around at some point, but there is little sign of that happening at the moment.
“Nottingham Forest are going to be awkward opponents for them and, as the only team to have beaten Liverpool so far, they will fancy their chances at Etihad Stadium too.”
He continued: “Nuno Espirito Santo’s side love defending and they will make it very hard for City to break them down.
“City still have the talent but it has not been clicking and, physically, Forest will probably have the edge. The defending champions’ confidence is shot to pieces and teams must feel they can get at them.
“So, I think there will be goals and this could turn out to be a battle between two big number nines – ‘The Wood Chopper’’ Chris Wood for Forest and City’s Erling Haaland. I fancy both of them to score.”
16 – Since Nuno Espírito Santo's first game in charge of Nottingham Forest (23rd December, 2023), only Erling Haaland (18) has scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League than Chris Wood (16). Remarkable. pic.twitter.com/6joJuE2Jvf
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 25, 2024
Sutton also provided his predictions for the remaining five Premier League fixtures on Wednesday evening, backing Everton to beat Wolves 2-1, Liverpool to beat a ‘flat’ Newcastle 2-1, ‘dangerous’ Chelsea to triumph 2-0 against Southampton, Villa to beat Brentford 2-1 and Arsenal to overcome Manchester United 3-1 at the Emirates.
“We have seen some classic games between these teams down the years, but Arsenal are a long way ahead of United, especially now [Martin] Odegaard is back – he has taken them to the levels we were expecting from them all season,” Sutton explained.
“It would be a real eye-opener if United go to Emirates Stadium and get something, but I can’t see it.
“Arsenal have scored a lot of goals in the past week and that should continue here. They will win, and win well.”
The UK’s best football betting sites have the Gunners as clear favourites to claim all three points against the Red Devils in Gameweek 14, while bookmakers are also heavily favouring City to prevail against Forest despite recent form.
