Chris
Team News
Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper enjoys minimal selection headaches coming into the weekend fixture against visiting Brentford at The City Ground on Sunday and will look to get back to winning ways in the wake of a 2-0 loss against Manchester City last time out.
Forest, who looks to be in much better standing thus far in 2023-24 in comparison to last term despite the loss of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham, can bank on nearly a fully-fit senior squad, so few changes if any can be expected here.
Cooper will certainly be without Nuno Tavares as the Portuguese full-back deals with injury, while Danilo is currently listed as a doubt for selection, which can be easily coped with due to the summer acquisition of Ibrahima Sangaré from PSV Eindhoven. Expect Anthony Elanga to come into the team as Cooper is slated to return to a 4-2-3-1, with Nicolás Domínguez in line to keep his place in the side.
Both Nottingham Forest and Brentford will try to continue their strong starts to the season, rebound from defeat last time out and climb back into the Premier League’s top half when they meet at the City Ground on Sunday.
For Forest, it was a humbling (even if expected) 2-0 defeat to three-time defending champions Manchester City, though Steve Cooper’s Tricky Trees acquitted themselves quite well and made Pep Guardiola’s side sweat after Rodri’s inexplicable red card just 25 seconds into the second half. Forest are yet to lose back-to-back games this season 2W-1D-3L) — a mark they will look to keep alive on Sunday.
As for Brentford, successive PL defeats was their fate as the Bees were somewhat surprisingly turned over and thumped 3-1 by Everton in west London; that on the heels of a valiant 1-0 defeat away to Newcastle the week before; and followed by a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the League Cup third round at midweek. Thomas Frank’s side is spiraling just a bit, with long-term injuries (Rico Henry and Kevin Schade) piling on top of Ivan Toney’s gambling ban which will have him out until January.
