Nottingham Forest vs Brentford

Nottingham Forest and Brentford will lock horns at the City Ground in an exciting Premier League contest.

Despite boasting a man up, Nottingham Forest couldn’t haul back a two-goal deficit against reigning Premier League champions Manchester City last weekend, slumping to a 2-0 loss at the Etihad Stadium, their three defeat in six top-flight games this season (W2, D1). Manager Steve Cooper will relish the upcoming home return, with the ‘Tricky Trees’ going unbeaten in both league matches at the City Ground thus far (W1, D1). But it’s worth noting both games came against newly-promoted sides Burnley and Sheffield United. Forest went winless in both Premier League encounters against Brentford last season (D1, L1) despite scoring three times in those meetings. Those results form part of their four-game winless H2H league run (D2, L2), with each of those four fixtures seeing both teams score.

On the other hand, Brentford had a tough week behind, following up a disheartening 3-1 home league defeat to perennial underachievers Everton with a 1-0 loss to Arsenal in midweek League Cup action. Those losses have bookended the visitors’ dreadful six-game winless run in all competitions (D3, L3 – 90 minutes only), putting some pressure on manager Thomas Frank to get a result here. But without star striker Ivan Toney, the ‘Bees’ have struggled to slot the back into the back of the net, scoring just once in their last three competitive outings. Furthermore, they’ve bagged 2+ goals once across their three travels in 2023/24, suggesting their unbeaten run against Forest could be in jeopardy.