Manchester City will be aware of the potential banana peel that Nottingham Forest represents, they must stay focused to keep the title charge on. (Photo credit: Sky Sports)
Nottingham Forest vs. Manchester CityThe City Ground4:30pm
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| Manchester City will be aware of the potential banana peel that Nottingham Forest represents, they must stay focused to keep the title charge on. (Photo credit: Sky Sports) |
The champions know what to do; they beat everything in front of them until the end of the season, and whatever happens in the Arsenal and Liverpool games won’t matter.
Liverpool stumbled again on Saturday, dropping two precious points at West Ham, a result that now means they’re the least favorite of the three to land the title. With only three games left, Liverpool could be as many as five points off the pace.
Nottingham Forest felt haunted last week as they saw the referee wave off three clear penalty shouts, and the club wasted no time going to social media to rant about their pain. While PGMOL felt bitter about Forest’s strong-word message, you can’t make up the scenarios they complained about.
Ashley Young hacked down Gio Reyna in the first half and handled the ball in the area before the same player brought down Callum Hudson Odoi in the Everton area in the second half. The VAR on duty, Stuart Artwell, a lifelong Luton Town fan, refused to send Anthony Taylor to the monitor.
Forest’s task is huge. They don’t have the quality to stop Manchester City, but their collective strength, their strong will, and their resilience can help them on Sunday. They have held the champions at the City Ground before; they must do it again if they want to record points against their relegation rivals.
Manchester City could be without Erling Haaland; he missed the midweek win over Brighton. Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden stepped up to get the job done. In the absence of the big Norwegian, Manchester City has everything they need to get the job done yet again.
Taiwo Awoniyi and Willy Boly are both unavailable for this fixture. Chris Wood will once again assume duty upfront, alongside Morgan Gibbs White, Anthony Elanga, and Callum Hudson Odoi. That is the right amount of pace to trouble the champions.
By the time Simon Hooper blows his whistle for this game to get started, City could be four points behind Arsenal; they must win to keep up; and, should the Gunners fail to win, City could underline the title race with a win that would take them above Arsenal and with a game in hand.