Key events

Nottingham Forest defender Murillo warms up ahead of kick-off. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Erling Haaland (right, as if you didn’t know) could score his 150th goal for Manchester City this afternoon. Photograph: Chris Radburn/Reuters

TNT Sports pundit Joe Hart gets the badge in as he interviews his former boss Pep Guardiola, a man who couldn’t ship the former Manchester City goalkeeper out of his team fast enough upon taking over at the club. Photograph: Barrington Coombs/PA

A couple of young fans pose for a photo with Nottingham Forest mascot Robin Hood. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

A Nottingham Forest fan lays a bouquet of flowers as a tribute in memory of former Nottingham Forest player John Robertson. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Pep Guardiola has got his hat on and his team are coming out to play. Photograph: Barrington Coombs/PA

City in boxseat to sign Semenyo

Manchester City: Although nothing has officially been agree between the two clubs, Manchester City are in pole position to sign Antoine Semenyo in January after Chelsea cooled their interest in the Bournemouth winger. Jacob Steinberg reports …

The Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo has a £65m release clause in his contract that can be triggered in January. Photograph: Robin Jones/AFC Bournemouth/Getty Images

A floral tribute left in memory of John Robertson outside the City Ground. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

The City Ground. Photograph: Andrew Kearns/CameraSport/Getty Images

Today’s match officials

Referee: Rob Jones
Assistants: Neil Davies and Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth official: Gavin Ward
VAR: Andy Madley
Assistant VAR: Dan Robathan

Those teams: Nicolas Dominguez comes in for Douglas Luiz as Forest’s only change to the team that lined up against Fulham last time out, while the same 11 players who started for City in their win over West Ham all passed their Boxing Day weigh-in and have been picked to do battle again.

Nottingham Forest v Man City line-ups

Nottingham Forest: John Victor, Williams, Murillo, Milkenkovic, Savona, Anderson, Dominguez, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Hutchinson, Igor Jesus

Subs: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Bakwa, Zinchenko

Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Nico, Bernardo, Reijnders, Foden, Cherki, Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Ake, Rodri, Savinho, Khusanov, McAidoo, Mukasa, Lewis, R. Heskey

John Robertson remembered

Nottingham Forest: A player who was adored by Forest fans and made Nottingham his permanent home, expect reverential tribute to be paid to the late John Robertson at the City Ground ahead of kick-off this afternoon. Genuine tears of sorrow will be shed as Forest supporters bid farewell to one of their greatest ever players, whose death at the age of 72 was reported on Christmas Day.

A key member of the Forest team Brian Clough marched from the second tier to the very summit of European football, this incredibly talented Scottish winger may not have looked much like an elite athlete but played an instrumental role in helping Forest win two European Cups and represented his country 28 times.

Paying tribute to Robertson’s stellar service with the club, Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis said he has recommended that the City Ground’s Bridgford Stand be renamed The John Robertson Stand in Robbo’s honour and “in lasting recognition of his extraordinary contribution to our club, so that his legacy – and our great hero – will forever be remembered”.

Nottingham Forest’s John Robertson leaves Birmingham City Birmingham City’s Kevin Dillon (right) trailing in his wake. Photograph: PA Photos/PA

RIP Robbo Legend Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Early team news

Chris Wood remains sidelined for Forest but is back gambolling on the grass as he recovers from the knee injury that has kept him out since mid-October. Ola Aina is also out, while Dan Doye and Ryan Yates were facing late fitness tests. Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly are both away in Morocco representing the Ivory Coast at Afcon.

Manchester City are without Rayan Ait Nouri (Algeria) and Omar Marmoush (Egypt), who are both at Afcon, while Jeremy Doku is expected to miss out today with an ankle injury. John Stones, Oscar Bobb, Rodri and Mateo Kovacic are also unavailable.

Premier League: Nottingham Forest v Man City

Hello there. It’s the festive period, which means two things: you’re not sure what day it is and there’s lots of football being played. Manchester City arrive in Nottingham like a relentless blue superthing that has finally hit fifth gear. Having spent yesterday weighing his players like precious metals in a bid to gleefully seize upon any evidence of Christmas Day over-indulgence, Pep Guardiola is chasing an eighth straight win. With Erling Haaland back to his terrifying best and Rayan Cherki pulling strings like a puppet master, City know victory will nudge them above Arsenal to the Premier League summit, at least for a few hours.

Standing in their way are Nottingham Forest, who are hovering uncomfortably above the trapdoor in 17th place but have won six of their past nine in all competitions and emerged victorious from this fixture last season. In Sean Dyche they have a head coach who views 30% possession and a bruising set-piece goal as the highest form of art. Will it be a post-Christmas stroll for the visitors, or will Dychey take great glee in ruining Pep’s festive fun? Kick-off is at 12.30pm (GMT) and we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.

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