Manchester City got back to winning ways in Europe in midweek after a three-game spell that included two league defeats - to Aston Villa and Brighton - and needing penalties to get past Brighton in the Carabao Cup.

But even to do that they twice lost the lead and it all seemed like a bit of an uphill battle.

After such a strong start to the season, has the bubble burst on Enzo Maresca's honeymoon period? Or can they recover?

A big opportunity to return to winning ways in the league today against a struggling Forest side.

Enzo Maresca continues to insist that Gianluigi Donnarumma is his number one, despite the goalkeeper making a number of mistakes in recent weeks.

He was at fault for RB Leipzig's first goal, getting beaten at his near post, while there were a couple of other nervy moments that almost led to goals.

It feels like Donnarumma is making a mistake in almost every game at the moment. City's last clean sheet in any competition was on 11 October against Liverpool (3-0) in the Premier League.

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"I will tell what we want to do, what we have to do. And if the players buy in, I think we can have a turnaround. And if not, the sixth manager will come in."

Strong words last week from Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner, who seemed to suggest after the loss to Brentford that he would be heading for the exits if things do not turn around soon.

His words of course refer to the fact that Forest had four different managers last season before appointing Glasner in the summer.

With a notoriously impatient owner in Evangelis Marinakis, how long does Glasner have before his time at the City Ground is up?

For the seventh time in nine matches in this Premier League campaign, Forest outperformed the opposing team in terms of xG, yet they have turned that dominant stat into just one win and six points in total.

Forest, who have yet to score at home in any competition this season, have scored just six Premier League goals from an xG total of 14.34, an under-performance of 8.34 goals.

That's comfortably the worst differential of any team this season, and the biggest under-performance by a side after nine Premier League games since at least 2021-22, when Opta introduced its revamped xG model.

Morgan Gibbs-White is making his 200th Premier League appearance this evening with 152 of those coming for Nottingham Forest, the third-most for the club in the competition.

What a player he has been for them. Oh how he would like to mark the milestone with a goal, or even more importantly, a win.

Image source, Getty Images

Shamoon Hafez
Football reporter at the City Ground

Elliot Anderson's stock has risen astronomically and there were considerable expectations on the midfielder's shoulders after sealing a £116m move from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City in the summer.

European football expert Guillem Balague said on Match of the Day he had spoken to City manager Enzo Maresca in the summer and asked if he wanted to sign Bournemouth's Alex Scott and Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton.

The Italian's response was "no", adding: "Anderson is going to become the key player for England, not just City."

Anderson may well be afforded a generous reception when he makes his return to the City Ground on Saturday, with Nottingham Forest supporter Ellie Molloson telling BBC Sport: "I know the stadium will be ringing with 'Geordie Maradona'.

"It will be bittersweet because we miss him, but we are quite proud of just how fantastic a player he is."

But is Anderson managing to live up to the hype in the early days of his City career?

The former Newcastle United player's tireless work-rate means he has effectively replaced Bernardo Silva and Rodri at Manchester City, making the step up to a side that won two trophies last season and could challenge for the title again.

Though Anderson has not fully replicated the outright league-leading dominance he showcased across several metrics last season, his underlying numbers remain elite.

He has drawn more fouls (28) than any other player in the division, while he ranks second for duels won (66) and third for successful passes (610) and touches on the ball (851).

Nottingham Forest just cannot score - they have managed only six league goals in their first nine games, the lowest total in the Premier League.

Their manager, Oliver Glasner, got a bit stroppy after their defeat by Brentford last time out, saying he will make changes or he will end up being sacked. He tried the carrot approach at the start of the season but his team didn't bite - so now he is trying the stick.

We might see a reaction here, and I do think Forest will score - Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma might even chuck one in for them, going off his recent poor form.

It certainly won't be easy for City and they have their own issues at the moment after back-to-back league defeats, but I am still expecting them to create enough chances to win.

Sutton's prediction: 1-2

Right then, one to go.

Nottingham Forest host Manchester City at the City Ground with Forest searching for something to get them out of this poor run of form and City aiming to return to winning ways in the Premier League...

Darren Cann
Former Premier League assistant referee on BBC Sport

On Havertz decision:

In the 42nd minute, Havertz had his shirt held in the penalty area. On review, Havertz was marginally in an offside position and as such, play was restarted with an indirect free kick for offside.

The law states “if a player in an offside position moving towards the ball is fouled before playing the ball, the foul is penalised as it occurred before the offside offence.” (Note: In these situations the attacker hasn’t committed an offside offence until he challenges an opponent for the ball.)

However, last season a similar situation arose when Brentford were awarded a penalty against Leeds, only for VAR to intervene as the Brentford player was offside.

The previous season Newcastle were given a penalty after a VAR review against Bournemouth, despite the Newcastle player being in an offside position (but had not committed an offside offence before he was pulled back.)

So this law can be interpreted differently in very similar situations and more consistency is required to deal with this complex and ambiguous law.

Chris Wise
Final Score reporter at Emirates Stadium

Arsenal rolling back the years with all these 1-0 wins. That’s nine victories out of ten, which equals their best ever start to a Premier League season.

Hull winless since August, but plenty to be encouraged about. They made this uncomfortable for the Gunners.

Matthias Jaissle is still going at the fourth official here.

Ultimately it's a point on the road for his side and on balance that seems like a fair result.

No there is not. A point apiece in what was a fairly frustrating game for both sides.

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The allotted injury time is up. Is there a late, late winner in this for either side?

Matias Fernandez-Pardo looks fine to continue but he will have to stay off the pitch for a while having received some treatment.

Matias Fernandez-Pardo goes down under what looks like very little from Alex Iwobi and stays down. Play is allowed to continue and Newcastle boss Matthias Jaissle is going absolutely mad. That earns him a yellow card and a talking to as play is eventually stopped.

All over! Not the most thrilling of games but Arsenal grind out the win - their ninth from 10 Premier League games so far this season.

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That is some strike from Ryan Sessegnon but it's a brilliant save from Lukas Hornicek to keep his side in it.

The ball comes to Sessegnon at the top of the 18-yard box and he hits it beautifully but Hornicek does well. A proper palm stinger.

Oh hello. Amar Dedic fouls Rodrigo Muniz just as he was about to enter the penalty area and he goes into the book for it.

It was a bit dramatic from Muniz, to be honest, but Fulham have a free-kick in a dangerous area.

We're into SIX minutes of added time as Cesar Palacios blasts one over the bar on the volley.

A couple of minutes of normal time remaining and Arsenal make another change as Bruno Guimarães is replaced by Martín Zubimendi.