Nottingham Forest-Leicester is a match for the 20th day of the Premier League and is played on Saturday at 4pm: stats, TV, line-ups, predictions.
Nottingham Forest, back in the Premier League after more than two decades since their last appearance, have taken a while to settle into their new category. Normal for a club who had their squad overhauled in the space of a few weeks last summer.
Steve Cooper’s team didn’t get going straight away but managed to limit the damage, exploiting the home factor for example – 12 points out of 17 won at their home ground, the City Ground – and now they are starting to reap the first fruits of the efforts made in the market between July and August. One of these is the League Cup semi-final, reached this week by beating Wolverhampton on penalties. Forest have thus treated themselves to an intriguing double-header with Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United: they have not gone this far in a domestic cup since the 1991-92 season, when they conceded in the League Cup final against the Red Devils. The success over Wolves also allowed the Reds fans to immediately file away the FA Cup elimination against a Championship side, Blackpool, who only a few days earlier had overwhelmed Awoniyi and co. 4-1. On the last day of the season, however, three platinum points had come in the direct clash with Southampton (0-1) decided by a goal from the Nigerian.
Savings clash at the City Ground
It was the second good result after the excellent draw in front of their own home crowd against Chelsea, held 1-1 at the City Ground.
Rodgers
Nottingham Forest now have a two-point lead over the relegation zone and in the standings are paired with Leeds and Leicester, the latter’s next opponent in another interesting salvation clash on matchday 20. Slaughtered by injuries, the Foxes are experiencing a torrid season. Brendan Rodgers is still in place, but the latest results are worrying: since they started playing again, Leicester have only beaten lower-ranked opponents such as Milton Keynes Dons and Gillingham, and have suffered defeats against Newcastle, Liverpool and Fulham. Rodgers and his side, like Nottingham Forest, were involved in the League Cup this week, but lost narrowly (2-0) at Newcastle, who had also had the better of the Premier League.
The Prediction
Nottingham Forest have grown defensively in recent times and Leicester, orphaned of two pillars such as Maddison and Vardy, will not have an easy time as in the first leg, when they won 4-0. The Reds, in our opinion, should avoid defeat – as they often do at their stadium – in a game of less than three goals overall.
The likely line-ups for Nottingham Forest-Leicester
- NOTTINGHAM FOREST (4-3-1-2): Henderson; Aurier, Worrall, McKenna, Renan Lodi; Mangala, Yates, Freuler; Scarpa; Gibbs-White, Johnson.
- LEICESTER (4-2-3-1): Ward; Castagne, Amartey, Faes, Thomas; Ndidi, Tielemans; Albrighton, Perez, Barnes; Iheanacho.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
