Paul Merson has predicted a tough evening for Nottingham Forest when they travel to the Premier League champions Manchester City on Wednesday.
The Reds face Pep Guardiola's side on the back of their 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham on Sunday. Steve Cooper's side currently sit 14th in the table after collecting points against West Ham and Everton.
Their next opponents are placed in second place on 10 points after winning three of their opening four games. City came from 2-0 down to defeat Crystal Palace 4-2 on Saturday, with Erling Haaland scoring a second half hat-trick.
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After already scoring 13 goals this season, City have been backed to overcome Forest on Wednesday and add more goals to their impressive count already. Merson has predicted that the Citizens will win 5-0 in Manchester and has called for a difficult evening for Cooper's side.
"Pick a score! I don't know - what score do you wanna go for? I don't think we need to say much about Manchester City and I expect them to win this game comfortably," he told SportsKeeda.
"As for Forest, the worrying thing is that they played quite well against Tottenham but ended up on the losing side.
"Dean Henderson has made more saves than any other Premier League goalkeeper this season and if you look at their transfer policy, they're signing every Tom, Dick and Harry.
"Is it working, though? It's too early in the season for passing judgements, but Steve Cooper will hope his new players settle in quickly as he looks to find his best starting XI.
"Erling Haaland has taken to the Premier League like a fish to water and has already notched up six goals, but the funny thing is that he's probably only touched the ball like 35 times! If he doesn't get injured, I'd say he's already won the Premier League Golden Boot - we might as well just give it to him now!
"He's had an unbelievable start to his Manchester City career, fair play to him."
BBC Sport's Chris Sutton has also backed Forest to suffer a heavy defeat, with the former Blackburn Rovers forward predicting a 6-0 loss for the Reds. He said in his BBC Sport Predictions: "It is Manchester City at home, so I predict a high-scoring win but it is just whether they take the foot off their gas.
"They are in incredible team. Newcastle took the game to them but they came back at them and did the same against Palace to get the win. Erling Haaland is scoring goals and I think Nottingham Forest will go and have a go but that will play into City's hands.
"I think they will get back to clean sheets here as well as getting the win."
What are your predictions for the Reds' trip to Manchester City? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section...
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