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Pep Guardiola has gone seven consecutive games without a win for the first time in his managerial career after his Manchester City side suffered a damaging 2-0 defeat to Premier League title rivals Liverpool at Anfield last weekend.
Goals either side of half time from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah helped a dominant Liverpool outfit condemn the Citizens to their fourth straight Premier League defeat, and they have subsequently slipped to fifth in the table, 11 points behind Arne Slot's side at the summit.
Many are now questioning whether Man City are out of the title race, even after only 13 games played, as they have never managed to win the top-flight crown after being behind by more than 10 points, while only three teams have ever come from at least 11 points behind at any stage in a campaign to win the title - Manchester United in 1992-93 (12 points) and 1995-96 (12 points), and Arsenal in 1997-98 (13 points).
Guardiola's immediate priority is steering his Man City side back into the top four and ending the club's miserable winless run, starting with a challenging encounter against sixth-placed Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
Before the season began, several Citizens supporters would have viewed this fixture with Forest as a favourable one, but Nuno Espirito Santo's side have been one of the surprise packages in the 2024-25 campaign and a number of their first-team stars have elevated their game to new heights.
Man City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany labelled this fixture as "a real banana skin" for the Citizens a few weeks ago, and he still believes that Guardiola's men will be up against it when they take on a high-flying Forest side.
"This is the exact kind of team I don't want City to play right now," McInerney told Sports Mole. "They're everything City aren't right now.
Steven McInerney previews Man City's clash with Nottingham Forest on December 2, 2024© Imago
"They all know exactly what they're doing, they are incredibly structured, incredibly hard working and have so much pace. They've got individual quality and this is a reliable team."
In-form attackers including "underrated" top scorer Chris Wood and "high-quality" duo Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White will be relishing the prospect of facing a defensive vulnerable Man City side that have conceded 19 goals across their seven-game winless run.
Nuno's side have also impressed defensively, with centre-back pairing Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo receiving high praise from McInerney having been part of a Forest team that have kept the third-most clean sheets (five) in the Premier League and have conceded the second-fewest goals (13).
"Forest are going to give us an absolute nightmare. It's going to be really difficult," said McInerney. "It doesn't mean City can't get something from it, but [Forest] are such a stubborn side and City are not creating much right now."
Grealish set for new midfield role in "nightmare" Forest fixture?
In a bid to resolve Man City's midfield issues and potentially ease the burden on struggling trio Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, Guardiola has suggested that he could trial Jack Grealish in a central role.
Ahead of Wednesday's contest, McInerney spoke with Sports Mole senior reporter Oliver Thomas about what Grealish can offer centrally for Man City as well as the challenges Guardiola's side are set to face against Forest at the Etihad.
Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion.
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