Nottingham Forest vs Brentford

City Ground forms the backdrop for a high-stakes midweek Premier League clash between Nottingham Forest and Brentford.

Nottingham Forest seem to be running out of steam as we approach the tail-end of an intense 2024/25 season. A 2-0 defeat to Manchester City last weekend – despite hitting the woodwork three times – marked the end of their FA Cup run in the semi-finals, condemning Nuno Espirito Santo’s charges to a third loss in four competitive games (W1). Furthermore, results elsewhere saw the Tricky Trees slide to fifth in the Premier League table. However, they can move back to third with a win against Brentford, a side they dispatched 2-0 in this season’s reverse fixture to snap an underwhelming six-game winless H2H streak (D3, L3). Keen to go back-to-back, Forest will be out to avoid consecutive home league defeats for the first time this term after a narrow 1-0 loss to Everton in their last outing at the City Ground.

On the other hand, Brentford can still realistically hope to better last season’s ninth-place finish despite heading into proceedings in lower reaches. Indeed, five points separate the Bees from eighth-placed Fulham, and with this game in hand, they can still make a late top-half push. Thomas Frank’s side dismantled Brighton 4-2 on home turf last weekend to halt a three-match winless run in the Premier League (D2, L1). However, they’ve not won successive league matches since February, though simply avoiding defeat would see them go unbeaten in four top-flight outings on the spin for the first time this season. The visitors have fared outstandingly on the road lately, winning five of their last seven away league fixtures (D1, L1).