Premier League: Champs Aim for Six of the Best

Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest

It’s five out of five so far for the Premier League champions so can Manchester City now make it six out of six?

Nottingham Forest are this weekend the visitors to the Etihad, a venue where they were hit for six of the best by City shortly after they were promoted last term.

Twelve months on they now seem a bit more settled, but few would back any away side on a trip to the top team in the country.

Talking Points

Despite that, Forest have impressed to date and have enjoyed some Premier League highlights of their own.

They were somewhat unfortunate to leave Old Trafford empty handed a few weeks ago and have since secured a fine win at Chelsea before drawing 1-1 with Burnley on Monday night.

City, though, are on a different level to most and come into this contest after launching the defence of their Champions League title in midweek with a 3-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade.

Last weekend they also showed why they are champions with a superb second half performance to come from behind at West Ham and record a 3-1 success.

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It was a display which showed persistence paid off as second half goals from Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland helped them defeat the in-form Hammers and continue their perfect start to the new league season.

Doku, on the left, provided the ball-carrying ability lost by the summer departure of Riyad Mahrez, while there was another excellent all-round display from Julián Álvarez.

West Ham had played well, with Edson Álvarez and Lucas Paquetá holding their own at times in midfield, but somehow there always seemed to be other gears, other angles for the champions.

That is the difficulty that Forest will face on Saturday, even though they have already made life difficult for all of the top clubs since being promoted.

That included in their last meeting in February when they soaked up the pressure, conceded just once and managed to fight back late on. Doing similar on City’s own turf may be beyond them, however, even if manager Pep Guardiola is concerned by their injury list.

City only had six outfield players on their bench for the victory over Red Star and their seventh successive triumph in all competitions came at a cost as midfielder Bernardo Silva became the latest player to pick up an injury which, according to Guardiola, will keep him out for “the next few weeks”.

The Portuguese international joins Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic and John Stones on the sidelines.

Given the riches he has lavished on his squad, few neutrals will have sympathy for Guardiola and it will still be a major shock if Forest end their 100 per cent start to the campaign.

History

Steve Cooper and Nottingham Forest are on for challenge as they clasha gainst Manchester City in the Premier League — Nottingham Forest coach Steve Cooper celebrates after winning against Chelsea

Last season the gap was clear in an early encounter as City romped to victory with Haaand netting a hat-trick against opponents still adapting to life back in the top flight.

The return match in February threatened to derail City’s title chances as Silva’s goal was pegged back by a late Chris Wood equaliser in a 1-1 draw – a result which proved important in Forest’s survival bid.

Historically this has been a close contest with 41 City victories, 33 Forest triumphs and 28 draws.

The very first meeting came in December 1899 in League Division One and a 2-0 Forest success in Nortingham.

Last season as well as Haaland’s first half hat-trick, he was joined on the scoresheet by Joao Cancelo and Alvarez.

It was their first league meeting since 2002 when a Darren Huckerby hat-trick sealed a 3-0 home City win in the second tier.

Until last season they had not met since the third round of the 2009 FA Cup when Forest stunned City on their own turf with Nathan Tyson, Robert Earnshaw and Joe Garner the goal-getters in a 3-0 win in Manchester for the then Championship side.