Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany believes that Pep Guardiola's side have "an opportune moment to strike" against Premier League top-four rivals Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday.
Forest have been one of the surprise packages in the Premier League this season and a number of their first-team stars have elevated their game to new heights under head coach Nuno Espirito Santo.
After narrowly avoiding relegation and finishing 17th last season, Forest currently sit third in the top-flight table with 48 points - 16 more than they accumulated in the previous campaign - and are now in contention to qualify for next season's Champions League.
However, since enjoying an impressive run of eight wins and one draw in all competitions, the Tricky Trees have suffered a dip in form, winning just one of their last five PL matches (D1 L3) as well as requiring penalty shootouts to scrape past Exeter City and Ipswich Town in the fourth and fifth rounds of the FA Cup, beating the latter 5-4 in a shootout on Monday following a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes.
In the Premier League, Forest are clinging onto a place in the top four as several teams - including Saturday's opponents Man City who sit one point and one place further back in fourth - are breathing down their necks; just six points separate Forest in third from Aston Villa in 10th with 11 games still remaining.
In contrast, only leaders Liverpool (22) and Arsenal (21) have collected more points than Man City (20) over the last 10 PL matches, with Guardiola's men winning six times during this period - most recently beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in North London just over a week ago.
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Man City are not approaching "patchy" Forest at their very best
Man City also beat Forest earlier this season, securing a comfortable 3-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium in early December, and while McInerney has insisted that the Tricky Trees still possess "a lot of talent" throughout their squad, he believes that the Citizens are in a "pretty good place" to secure maximum points against a side enduring a "patchy" run of form.
"Forest's form actually isn't that great, even though they're in third," McInerney told Sports Mole. "In normal time (90 minutes), they've only won one of the last seven games. There's no shame in drawing 0-0 against Arsenal, but they did lose away to Newcastle 4-3, they lost to Fulham 2-1 away before that, they only got past Exeter (and Ipswich) in the FA Cup on penalties.
"They did batter Brighton 7-0, but before that they lost to Bournemouth 5-0 as well, so their form is very patchy right now. This isn't a third-place-in-the-league run of form. As good as Forest have been this season, City are not approaching them at their very best when it felt like they were beating teams week in, week out.
"After they lost to City, they beat (Manchester) United, (Aston) Villa, Brentford, Tottenham, Everton, Wolves, Luton (in the FA Cup) and then they drew against Liverpool. There's seven wins in a row and a draw in all competitions. They were absolutely on fire.
"This isn't that side right now. There is still clearly ability there. They've got a lot of talent. The defensive partnership of [Nikola] Milenkovic and Murillo have been an absolute revelation. [Elliot] Anderson behind [Morgan] Gibbs-White in midfield has been brilliant too, and Chris Wood has been the most clinical finisher in the Premier League, which is crazy to say, but it's statistically true.
"[Ola] Aina and [Neco] Williams get forward really well. Then you've got the pace and the skill out wide of [Anthony] Elanga and [Callum] Hudson-Odoi. It's a fantastically organised side. It's functional, everyone knows their roles really well and for a large part of what defines City's season, Forest have been the opposite.
"City were unorganised, they were unstructured and there was a lack of responsibility and roles with no physicality or pace, and there's people running on empty, whereas Forest have had this cohesive, settled unit and they've lent into it all season."
'Man City are in an opportune moment to strike against Forest'
McInerney added: "The thing that makes me confident is I think City are on the up. I think Forest will start to feel the jitters a little bit of this Champions League push. It's a big ask for them, and their form, in my opinion, is starting to show that. They don't feel quite as convincing as they were.
"It doesn't mean they can't beat City. They probably will score, but I think it's fair to say this isn't the Forest side of two, three months ago, where they were incredibly hard to beat or score against. You can get at them right now.
"I'm actually going into this game pretty optimistic. I think the combination of Forest's form dipping a tiny bit, City having more time to rest some players - some were rested at the weekend against Plymouth - the new signings have done well, these guys are going to be ready, they [will have been coached for longer during the week] and I think we're in an opportune moment to strike.
"I know [Saturday's game] is away from home, and Forest are great [at the City Ground], but I think City will go into this feeling confident, because our form is good, Forest's has been a little bit up and down.
"The squad feels pretty settled. It feels bigger and a bit more rested. There are all these injuries, of course, to centre-backs, but I think we're going into this in a pretty good place, so I'm feeling pretty confident."
McInerney has also shared his thoughts on who could be named in Man City's starting lineup, with Guardiola expected to recall several of his senior stars after making 11 changes to the side that beat Plymouth 3-1 in the FA Cup fifth round last weekend.
Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion ahead of Man City's Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest.
Oliver Thomas
