How Man City should line up vs Nottingham Forest in the Premier League

Manchester City can build on their Premier League win over Arsenal as they travel to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

City returned to the top of the table with their 3-1 win over Arsenal on Wednesday, although the Gunners have a game in hand. Mikel Arteta's side play first on Saturday as they take on Aston Villa, so can go back to first place ahead of the game at the City Ground - or any dropped points by Arsenal would give City a huge opportunity themselves.

John Stones won't be ready in time for the Forest trip, and Pep Guardiola may use the fixture to rotate his side ahead of next week's trip to RB Leipzig in the Champions League last-16 first leg. Players like Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Kalvin Phillips may hope to return.

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Read how our writers think City should line up and use the interactive selector to pick your best starting XI:

Simon Bajkowski

Guardiola will have to think about Champions League selection coming up, as well as the fact that Arsenal on Wednesday night will have been draining for his players. If he can though, I would go as close to the team that won at the Emirates on Wednesday night as possible.

Forest should do more than defend with 10 men for 90 minutes if they are at home, so I'd go with a four-man defence that includes Aymeric Laporte for his ability to push the play on. Bernardo Silva has barely played on the right win but he did so well on Wednesday and would offer the opportunity to keep Mahrez fresh for Leipzig next week.

Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland both have to continue where they are, and Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne have been much more involved in the last two matches. Forest will