Nottingham Forest v Man City FA Cup tips: Pep's men the bet at 5/2

• Man City are winning again but often without clean sheets

• Forest's main focus is Champions League qualification

• City's full-backs can combine in a Bet Builder at 18/119.00

Football... Only Bettor. Watch the latest episode now.

Nottingham Forest v Man City
Sunday 27 April, 16:30
Live on ITV 1, STV, UTV & ITVX

Forest face big finish

Flying high in the Premier League and one step away from the FA Cup final, these are heady times for Nottingham Forest. But now can they finish it all off?

Nuno Espirito Santo's team are just a single point behind Man City in the Premier League and have a game in hand. Reassuringly for Forest fans getting twitchy, the Sportsbook make them just 1/41.25 for a Top Five Finish. And this year that's good enough to book a spot in next season's Champions League.

Forest have reached the semi-final stage for the first time in over 30 years by beating Luton 2-0 and then winning penalty shootouts against Exeter, Ipswich and Brighton. A fourth successive triumph via spot-kicks? That's 11/112.00.

Man City - a season in three acts

Manchester City's season can pretty much be divided into three parts.

To begin with, everything seemed pretty standard as Pep Guardiola's men chased a fifth straight Premier League title. Indeed, they were top after nine games.

Then came that bizarre run from October to December when City fell apart, losing nine times in 12 matches in all competitions. They've suffered six more defeats since, the latest a 1-0 reverse to Sunday's opponents, Nottingham Forest, in early March.

But they head into their seventh (!) straight FA Cup semi-final on a run of five wins in six matches, the first of those a 2-1 quarter-final success over Bournemouth.

Are City peaking at the perfect time as they seek to salvage a horrible campaign by their standards with Champions League qualification and lifting the FA Cup for the third time in the last seven seasons? 

City clear favourites despite parity so far

The head-to-head record between this pair shows one win each this term. City won the first meeting 3-0 in December although Forest had their chances. Revenge was secured by a late Callum Hudson-Odoi goal at the City Ground last month.

For Sunday's showdown, Man City are clear 7/101.70 favourites, with Nottingham Forest 15/44.75 and The Draw 11/43.75.

City are 4/111.36 to make the final while Forest are 21/103.10 in the To Qualify market which, of course, includes extra-time and penalties.

Both go into the game on the back of a very recent high. Forest put two straight defeats behind them with a 2-1 win at Spurs while City took a big leap towards Champions League qualification with a late, late home win over Aston Villa.

Timing right for City

It's been a feature of Man City under Pep that they've always come on strong at the end of a season. And even though this has been a really troubled campaign, they're doing it again.

And that's why this game looks to have come at the right time for them.

An FA Cup win would be tremendous for Forest but their big goal is securing a Champions League spot. Achieving that after making this Wembley semi-final... that's miles beyond expectations.

For City, achieving the same thing is almost the absolute bare minimum and all their experience of these type of situations should hold them in good stead.

While 7/101.70 is short, it's reasonable to give Forest a goal in all this as they have the players to hurt City in transition.

But whatever Forest do, I'll back City to find a response. Therefore the opening bet is Man City to win and Both teams to Score at 5/23.50.

City have shipped 43 goals in the Premier League this season and even with recent improvements they've kept just three clean sheets in their current seven-match unbeaten run. Forest have fired in a healthy 53 league goals so those numbers support such a bet.

City full-backs worth a play

Manchester City's full-backs have always got into advanced positions and the current preferred pair out left and right are Nico O'Reilly and Matheus Nunes.

Nunes scored the later winner over Aston Villa while O'Reilly has netted five times in the last 11 games, including three in this competion. Admittedly, they were against Salford and Plymouth (2) but league goals against Crystal Palace and Everton show the youngster can do it against the biggest teams.

Backing both to score is a bit ambitious but playing both to have 1 or More Shots on Target is reasonable. Add in Kevin De Bruyne and that treble comes out around 18/119.00.

De Bruyne is clearly a bit miffed that City haven't fought to keep him and he's certainly giving off 'this is what you'll be missing' vibes in recent games.

He's got a couple of goals in this year's FA Cup and his strike sparked the recent fightback against Crystal Palace, City coming from 2-0 down to win 5-2.

For Forest, the 5/23.50 about Chris Wood scoring anytime has appeal. Put that into a goalscorer double with City's Omar Marmoush and it pays 8/19.00 on the Bet Builder.

Now read all the rest of our Premier League match previews & best bets