Manchester City U21

vs

Nottingham Forest U21

Tips, Stats and Odds

Tactical showdown for local bragging rights

This is a clash between two teams with very different styles and it promises to be an interesting tactical chess match on Friday. Benjamin Wilkinson’s Manchester City U21 play a possession-based, pressing game in a similar mould to Pep Guardiola’s senior side. Their build-up is highly structured, ball retention is key and they play a flowing, positional football when they can. Warren Joyce has made the Forest U21 into a different proposition, however, with his side much more compact and aggressive when out of possession. They can press in waves, but prefer to sit in a 5-4-1/3-5-2 shape and hit on the counterattack. This could be a very interesting clash of styles with City able to dominate possession for long periods, but Forest capable of hurting them on the break. City are the clear favourites at 13/50, with Forest available at a long 127/20, but the hosts have the better form and the greater firepower so we’ll take them to win again.

City have an unbeatable home record

City U21 have won four of their last five Premier League 2 matches, including the last three in a row, while Forest have lost back-to-back games against Middlesbrough and Liverpool academies and have won only 2 of their last 5. In recent head-to-head encounters Forest have never won at Manchester City U21 and City have dominated the Premier League 2 encounters in the past two seasons. Wilkinson’s side, which currently sits 8th in the PL2 table with 25 points from 14 games, has been particularly strong at home, winning six and drawing one of seven. Forest are much further down the table, 20th with 17 points from 15, and could struggle to make the top 12 this year. They have won three of their eight away PL2 matches, drawing one and losing four, so they might have a chance of earning a draw here.

City have more firepower

Forest’s style of play means they are always likely to be in games, but City’s greater attacking depth should eventually tell. Matthew Warhurst has been in blistering form for City, scoring seven of their 19 goals across the last five matches, while Jack Thompson has scored two of Forest’s four goals in their past five. A City win with over 2.5 goals looks the way to go here because Wilkinson’s men are full of confidence at their home stadium, having recently dispatched Wolves U21 6-0 and Leeds U21 3-0 at this venue. Forest have averaged 1.00 goals and conceded 0.88 per away match in the PL2, so we’ll go for the hosts to notch up a three-point victory and see City score a few on the way.