Manchester City face Nottingham Forest at the Etihad on Wednesday, with Pep Guardiola's side looking to continue their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
As we've seen so often over the last few seasons, City produced another spirited comeback last weekend, this time coming from two goals down to defeat Crystal Palace 4-2. Erling Haaland netted his first City hat-trick against the Eagles, helping Guardiola keep up his unbeaten start to the campaign.
Currently second in the table, City are only behind Arsenal in the league, with Mikel Arteta's side having won four from four. The last meeting between City and Nottingham Forest came in 2009 - a 3-0 loss for City in the FA Cup.
Also read: Julian Alvarez has already surprised Pep Guardiola at Man City
Nathan Ake, Kalvin Phillips and Aymeric Laporte are all set to miss the clash with Forest on Wednesday. Jack Grealish is a doubt, and with the game coming just four days after their last, Guardiola is expected to rotate, with Julian Alvarez tipped to make his first start.
So, how could City line up? We simulated the clash to find out.
Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest score prediction
To complete this simulation, we used FIFA 22 and updated the squads with the latest transfers. Due to FIFA 22 not having the latest kits, both sides lined up in last season's strips.
We predict that City could set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan; Alvarez, Haaland, Foden.
We predict that Forest could set up in a 3-4-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Henderson; McKenna, Cook, Worrall; Williams, Freuler, Yates, Toffolo; Johnson, Lingard, Gibbs-White.
Interestingly, Forest started the game as the better side as City struggled to find their rhythm, with Ederson being tested multiple times early on. Despite their poor start, City did take the lead though, with Haaland finding the net.
Alvarez cut in from the right and waited for support before finding the run on Kevin De Bruyne on the overlap. The Belgian approached the byline before cutting the ball back for Haaland, and the striker powered his shot into the top corner of the net.
City came close a couple of times before the break, but Guardiola's side were unable to add to their lead in the first half. City started the second 45 minutes quickly, and Haaland doubled the lead just after the restart.
This time, a long ball forward from Ruben Dias was met by Haaland, and the Norwegian shrugged off his marker as he powered through on goal. The striker approached the 'keeper who didn't come off his line, and Haaland struck into the near corner to put City 2-0 up.
Despite the lead, Forest were having more chances than the hosts, with Jesse Lingard and Brennan Johnson both missing great opportunities to score. As the visitors got desperate for a goal, Haaland confirmed all three points with his and City's third of the night.
Similar to the first goal, substitute Riyad Mahrez cut in from the right and ran to the byline before finding Haaland in the box. Without taking a touch, the striker did fantastically to drill his shot into the far corner and secure the win.
FIFA 22 predicted final score: Man City 3-0 Nottingham Forest
Here are the full-time match stats.
FIFA 22 predicts that Erling Haaland could continue his incredible goalscoring form with another hat trick against Nottingham Forest. The visitors played well and tallied more shots, but they lacked quality in front of goal - the opposite to City and ultimately what decided the game.
What do you think the final score will be? Let us know in the comments!
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