Nottingham Forest v Man City: FA Cup prediction, tips and bet builder as Tricky Trees hunt semi-final glory

Forest fans of a certain age will remember the club’s golden period under legendary manager Brian Clough.

In fact, Sunday will mark the first FA Cup semi-final for the Tricky Trees since the charismatic boss was last dominating the dugout.

Nuno Espirito Santo isn’t as opinionated, colourful or brash as Clough, but the Portuguese manager is certainly bringing back the good times to this success-starved club.

Taking Forest towards potential Champions League qualification is one thing, but winning the club’s first major trophy since 1990 would undoubtedly earn Santo legendary status.

For the 51-year-old, it would also mark his first major triumph of his managerial career. And no, we’re not counting his Saudi Pro League title as a major triumph.

Before Forest and Santo can start dreaming about a potential trophy lift at Wembley, they must first navigate their way through last year’s finalists Manchester City.

The Citizens have endured a wholly underwhelming season, but that doesn’t mean they should be underestimated in any way. On the contrary.

The FA Cup is City’s only shot at winning silverware this season, which for a trophy hungry manager like Pep Guardiola is undoubtedly a big deal. 

The Spaniard has only ever gone one full season without winning silverware as manager. That came in his first ever campaign with the Citizens back in 2016/17 when his side were beaten in the FA Cup semi-final by Arsenal.

Guardiola has since gone on to win two FA Cups which may not sound all that impressive. However, the Spaniard does have a great record in the competition having reached seven successive semi-finals. A win on Sunday will also take him to a third straight final – something Man City have never done in their history.

Here we pick out some of our best tips for this juicy Sunday meeting, and if you put it into a Betway bet builder you’ll get odds of around 8/1

Nottingham Forest v Man City bet builder

Under 3.5 goals – 1/3

Nottingham Forest to score first – 7/4

Kevin De Bruyne 1+ shots on target – 3/8

Chris Wood 1+ offsides – 8/13

Good luck and please gamble responsibly.

(All odds are correct at time of article publication)

When these two teams met a couple of months ago, it was Nottingham Forest who came out on top thanks to a late winner from Callum Hudson-Odoi.

A lot of the signs point to a similarly tight encounter as Wembley stadium prepares to host these two in-form teams.

City arrive in the capital on the back of a seven-match unbeaten run – one which consists of five wins and two draws.

Guardiola’s men last tasted defeat at the start of March which coincidentally came against Forest at the City Ground.

Speaking of the Tricky Trees, they ended their two-match losing run last Monday courtesy of a 2-1 victory at Tottenham.

Forest were at their clinical best as they scored two early goals before hanging on for the three points.

When you look at their last three Premier League victories, they all follow a similar path. Score early, defend well.

With that in mind, we’re backing Forest to bag the opener on Sunday. On top of that, we’re adding under 3.5 goals to the bet builder.

Kevin De Bruyne had a couple of terrific performances against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa in recent weeks. We’re backing the Belgian to have 1+ shots on target as he looks to lead City to a cup final for the last time.

To cap off our bet builder, we’re backing Chris Wood to produce 1+ offsides.

Nottingham Forest v Man City: How to watch and listen

Nottingam Forest v Man City will be shown live on ITV1 at 16:30 on Sunday, April 27. There will be live match updates on BBC Radio 5 Live.

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How do we create our tips?

Planet Sport has a rich history of providing quality, engaging and creative user-friendly content across a wide range of sports.

The Planet Sport team has more than twenty years’ experience working in the sports industry and use their knowledge, experience and statistical analysis to bring you the very best tips possible.

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