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Nottingham Forest vs Brighton Preview, Prediction, Team News and Predicted Lineups

Cai Parry Written by Sports EditorCai Parry
Updated –
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Nottingham Forest Brentford Preview

High-flying Nottingham Forest host Brighton in the Premier League’s early kick-off on Saturday, and we’ve got the latest team news and predicted lineups, as well as a score prediction within our preview.

Nottingham Forest vs Brighton Preview

Looking to bounce back after suffering a bitterly disappointing 5-0 defeat away at Bournemouth last time out, Nottingham Forest welcome Brighton to the City Ground in the Premier League on Saturday.

A highly anticipated fixture given the pair’s impressive campaigns thus far, the Cherries spared no mercy against the Reds in Gameweek 23. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side trailed by just one goal at the break, but everything fell apart in the second period, as they shipped four goals to lose by a shocking five-goal margin.

It’s a result that marked an end to their nine-game unbeaten run across all competitions, a run in which they had won seven of their last eight league outings, including triumphs over Manchester United, Aston Villa and Tottenham.

Forest now find themselves in third place in the English top-flight table ahead of Brighton’s visit, three points behind Arsenal and nine points adrift of leaders Liverpool, while they are three points ahead of Manchester City and Newcastle.

As for the Seagulls, they are 10 points behind their counterparts from the East Midlands in ninth place, having won just two of their last 11 league matches. Last weekend, they were beaten 1-0 by relegation battlers Everton.

Prior to that though, they had recorded back-to-back 2-0 and 3-1 victories over Ipswich and Manchester United, with each of their last four games before that ending in stalemates. Sandwiched between these results, Fabian Hurzeler’s side beat Championship side Norwich 4-0 in the FA Cup third round.

Saturday’s clash will be the second time that Brighton and Forest have met this term. The reverse fixture, back in September, ended in a 2-2 draw at the Amex. Preceding that result, the Seagulls claimed two consecutive Premier League victories against the Reds, prevailing 3-2 and 1-0 in their two 2023/24 meetings.

Nottingham Forest Team News

Callum Hudson-Odoi remains ruled out for Forest due to a groin issue, while Ibrahim Sangare could make his return from a thigh injury, but faces a late fitness test ahead of the game.

After shipping five last time out, could there be some changes to Nuno’s backline? Potentially, but he’ll more than likely stick with Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo and Neco Williams to show faith in the quartet.

Chris Wood will almost certainly lead the line, likely supported in attack by Anthony Elanga, Morgan Gibbs-White and Jota Silva, while Elliot Anderson should start in midfield, alongside either Ryan Yates or Nicolas Dominguez.

Brighton Team News

As for the visitors, their injury list is much more extensive, with all of Igor Julio (thigh), Jason Steele (shoulder), Ferdi Kadioglu (ankle), James Milner (thigh) and Mats Wieffer (thigh) expected to miss out.

Pervis Estupinan (unspecified) and Evan Ferguson (ankle), who has been linked with a move away from the club this month, are both doubts and face late fitness tests ahead of the clash.

Given the vast amount of absentees, Hurzeler’s lineup should remain largely unchanged, with Danny Welbeck likely to start up front, joined in attack by Kaoru Mitoma, Joao Pedro and either Brajan Gruda, Georginio Rutter or Yankuba Minteh.

Nottingham Forest vs Brighton Predicted Lineups

Nottingham Forest Predicted Lineup:

Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Dominguez, Anderson; Silva, Gibbs-White, Elanga; Wood

Brighton Predicted Lineup:

Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Lamptey; Baleba, Ayari; Minteh, Pedro, Mitoma; Welbeck

Nottingham Forest vs Brighton Prediction

Forest are seen as narrow 7/5 favourites to claim all three points in Gameweek 24, according to the UK’s best football betting sites, while a Brighton victory is priced at 9/5 and a draw is valued at 5/2.

Given last week’s results, this seems to be one of the more unpredictable fixtures on paper this weekend, which is why we at SportsCasting are reluctant to go in favour of either side and are backing a score draw.

As well, the Seagulls have drawn more games (10) than any other team in the division this term, playing out stalemates against West Ham, Brentford, Aston Villa and Arsenal in succession between Gameweek 17 and Gameweek 20, therefore we can certainly see the spoils being shared in this one.

Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Brighton

Cai Parry Written by Sports EditorCai Parry
Cai is a news and features writer that specialises in football, but has experience covering a variety of other sports, including darts, basketball, American football, MMA, boxing and more. He holds a degree in Football Journalism (BA Hons) from the University of Derby, and worked with Nottingham Forest FC and Burton Albion FC throughout his studies. Cai also has experience working in social media with the Football Association of Wales, where he worked on a freelance basis, and has also been an accredited writer in the JD Cymru Premier for both Y Clwb Pêl-Droed and welshfootie since the 2019/20 season.
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