Sean Dyche has urged his Nottingham Forest players to show "common sense" over the festive period ahead of their Premier League clash with Manchester City. 

Dyche's comments came after it emerged that City boss Pep Guardiola would be weighing his players ahead of their trip to the City Ground on Saturday to check their fitness. 

Forest enter the clash on the back of a 1-0 defeat away to Fulham, but five points clear of the bottom three, having enjoyed an upturn in form early on in Dyche's reign. 

However, consistency has been hard to come by in the league of late. They have alternated between winning and losing across their last six Premier League matches. 

And though Dyche explained that there is a lot more attention to detail in the modern game, he insisted that he would not intrude on how his team celebrate on Christmas Day. 

"Is Pep weighing himself, do you think?" joked Dyche, when asked if he would be taking a similar approach to the City manager.

"As I always say to the players, on your passport it says professional footballer. They're not just footballers.

"Everyone wants to be a footballer, but what about the professional side of it?

"The players just need to use a bit of common sense. I don't mind them having a Christmas dinner, why not?"

City might believe they have earned a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings given their recent form, with five straight wins putting them just two points adrift of leaders Arsenal. 

After progressing to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup, the Citizens followed up that result with a 3-0 thrashing of lowly West Ham, with Erling Haaland scoring twice. 

Tijjani Reijnders also found the back of the net at Etihad Stadium, taking his tally to three league goals in 16 appearances and his second in his last four top-flight games. 

The Dutchman had gone without a goal since the opening day of the season before netting against Fulham at the start of December, but he now feels as though he's found his feet and is looking to kick on for the second half of the season. 

"It's new, I think, for every player who comes here. The tactics are different from my other clubs; the guys help me a lot with adjusting, and I feel pretty settled here," he said. 

"It's good. We put on a very good streak. For us, we have to keep going. It's not finished. Keep the pressure on Arsenal, and it's a good time going into Christmas like this."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nottingham Forest – Elliott Anderson

Should Forest have any hope of a positive result, they will need Anderson to be on song, as he has been for much of the 2025-26 season. 

The England international tops the charts for chances created (28) in Dyche's ranks, while his 1,002 successful passes in the top flight this term are also a team-high total. 

Manchester City – Erling Haaland

Haaland has scored 19 goals in 17 Premier League games for City this season. The only player in the competition's history to score 20 before the end of the year in a campaign is the Norwegian himself (21 in 2022-23).

And he will be confident of increasing his tally here. Haaland has scored five goals in six Premier League appearances against Forest, although 60% of those came in his first game against them in August 2022, when he netted a hat-trick from four attempts.

MATCH PREDICTION: MANCHESTER CITY WIN

While the Opta supercomputer favours the visitors, Forest won their last Premier League match against City 1-0 in March last season, though they last won consecutive league games against the Citizens in September 1995.

The Citizens have also failed to score in half of their Premier League away games against Forest (3/6) but have avoided defeat in each of the three in which they have found the net (W2 D1).

But Guardiola's team are in form. They have won each of their last three top-flight games by a 3-0 scoreline, last winning more consecutively without conceding in February 2021 (six).

Forest, meanwhile, often thrive at this time of year. They have won their last four Premier League matches played between Christmas and New Year, all under Nuno Espirito Santo in 2023 and 2024.

However, Dyche is winless in all 16 of his Premier League matches against Guardiola (D2 L14).

Only Steve Bruce against Alex Ferguson (17) has managed more games against one manager without a single victory in the Premier League.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Nottingham Forest – 20.7%

Draw – 21.4%

Manchester City – 57.8%