Explore predictions, team news and betting tips for the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Manchester City on Sunday 27th April (4:30pm BST).
Tip 1
Forest owe a great deal of their success to the glittering form of target man Chris Wood, who has spent the past eight consecutive seasons in the top flight, but has truly found his home in red after scoring 33 league goals in the past two campaigns, including 19 this term.
More importantly for this bet, Wood often finds himself on target, striking a SOT in four of his last five, which accounts for games against Tottenham, Arsenal and even Man City.
Having produced at least one effort on goal on 23 occasions in the top flight, these odds should be much shorter, even when factoring in the opposition, whom he’s met this line against in both of this season’s head-to-heads.
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Tip 2
The New Zealand striker returned to the scoresheet against Tottenham on Monday after five without a goal, however, the way that Forest play means that he sometimes has to sacrifice himself for the greater good of the team.
An eye-popping stat heavily influencing my second punt for this match is that Wood holds the best conversion rate in the league with 35% among players to have had 5+ shots this term.
With four of his last nine goals coming away from the City Ground, plus the fact that he should cause City’s young defence plenty of problems, 5/2 for him to score his 20th of the campaign appeals.
The Tricky Trees bounced back from back-to-back defeats with a smash-and-grab win in North London over Tottenham Hotspur during Monday Night Football, keeping them one point above Newcastle United in 4th.
Ola Aina is expected to be fit enough to feature this weekend, meaning Nuno Espirito Santo should have a fully fit squad to choose from.
Nottingham Forest Predicted XI: Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murilo, Moreno; Dominguez, Danilo; Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Elanga; Wood.
A last-gasp winner courtesy of Matheus Nunes was an enormous leap in the quest for Champions League football next season for Pep Guardiola’s men when Aston Villa visited the Etihad on Tuesday night.
Long-term absentees Rodri, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Erling Haaland will miss out, however, Ederson may have recovered in time to give his manager a selection dilemma in goal.
Man City Predicted XI: Ortega; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Kovacic, Silva; McAtee, Gundogan, Marmoush; De Bruyne.
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