Early team news: Two major Manchester City absentees for Nottingham Forest clash (Premier League)

Manchester City will look to make it two wins from two in a challenging week for the club as they face Nottingham Forest just days after a 0-4 win against Brighton.

Pep Guardiola and his players come into the weekend’s fixture having brushed aside Roberto De Zerbi’s in a midweek clash that saw Phil Foden extend his exemplary run of form in front of goal as part of a demolition job.

The latest impressive outing from the reigning Premier League champions now means that they are unbeaten in 30 games across all competitions, having won 24 matches and drawn a further six in a remarkable run of form.

Nottingham Forest presents a very different challenge for Manchester City compared to Brighton, with the expectation being that the City Ground will see a very defensive system from the home side which Pep Guardiola’s players will be tasked with breaking down.

The last meeting between the two sides at that ground saw a similarly frustrating game, with Manchester City held to a 1-1 draw after Bernardo Silva’s sumptuous opener was cancelled out by a late Chris Wood effort.

Ahead of the release of official team news from the City Ground on Sunday afternoon, sources have began releasing elements of Pep Guardiola’s matchday squad and starting line-up, with the first information coming courtesy of various journalists on the ground.

As first spotted by The Athletic’s Sam Lee, Erling Haaland has made a return to the Manchester City matchday squad present arriving at the City Ground with his teammates on Sunday afternoon.

However, in a wider concern for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City supporters, both Phil Foden and Ruben Dias were not spotted arriving with the Premier League champions, as per the Manchester Evening News’ Simon Bajkowski and Joe Bray respectively.

As per the information of X user and ever-reliable team news source FplToni, Erling Haaland does not start for Pep Guardiola, despite the Norwegian making a very welcome return to the matchday squad.

Additional reporting from the same source confirms that Kevin De Bruyne starts for the Premier League champions, whilst also confirming earlier reports of an absence from the matchday squad for Foden.

Nuno Espírito Santo and Pep Guardiola are expected to name their confirmed and respective Nottingham Forest and Manchester City starting line-ups from around 15:30 (UK).

Now confirmed.