- Nottingham Forest take on Manchester City for a place in the FA Cup final | Live on ITV with kick off at 4.30pm BST
- Forest are enjoying a spectacular season and hoping for first cup success since 1959
- Pep Guardiola’s side have one last shot at a trophy in disappointing campaign
Manchester City were 2-1 winners over Bournemouth in the quarter-finals, having previously beat Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle – who memorably knocked Liverpool out of the cup – 3-1.
They started their campaign with an 8-0 battering of Salford City but had an uphill battle from there, coming back from 1-0 down in each of their next three matches. In the fourth round they were given a scare by Leyton Orient, ultimately winning 2-1.
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:50
Forest have had to dig deep to reach the semi-finals, making history as the first team to win three penalty shootouts in the same campaign in the competition.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side won 4-3 on penalties away at Brighton in the quarter-finals of the competition, having previously overcome Ipswich Town (5-4 on penalties), Exeter City (4-2 on penalties), and Luton Town (2-0) in the earlier rounds.
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:45
Pep Guardiola has made three changes to the City side that ran out 2-1 winners over Aston Villa in the Premier League this week.
Jack Grealish, Rico Lewis and Savinho all come into the starting line-up, with Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and James McAtee dropping out, the latter missing the squad altogether through suspension.
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:41
Nuno Espirito Santo has made two changes after their top-flight win over Tottenham Hotspur in midweek, with 18-year-old Zach Abbott and Callum Hudson-Odoi both starting, Abbott making his full Forest debut.
Anthony Elanga is benched, while Neco Williams is suspended after a booking against Brighton in the quarter-final.
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:38
Manchester City XI: Ortega, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Lewis, Kovacic, Bernardo, Savinho, Grealish, Marmoush
Substitutes: Ederson, Doku, Nico, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Reis, Akanji, Khusanov, Foden
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:32
Nottingham Forest XI: Sels, Abbott, Milenkovic, Murillo, Dominguez, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Danilo, Toffolo, Hudson-Odoi, Wood.
Substitutes: Miguel, Morato, Sangare, Awoniyi, Moreno, Jota, Elanga, Sosa, Boly.
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:31
We’re expected team news to drop in the next few minutes…
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:15
Meanwhile in Manchester, Matheus Nunes was the unlikely hero as he broke the deadlock against Aston Villa, firing in a stoppage-time winner to seal a 2-1 victory.
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:10
Quick reminder of the last outing for each of today’s semi-finalists: Nottingham Forest held on to beat Tottenham in the top flight last weekend, with Chris Wood ending a seven-game goal drought and Elliott Anderson also on the scoresheet as they won 2-1, with a late Richarlison header not enough to get Spurs back into the game.
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 15:00
Turning away from City, here’s Jonathan Margolis on why all neutrals should be rooting for Forest this afternoon:
Flo Clifford27 April 2025 14:50
