Nottingham Forest vs Brentford Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Nottingham Forest have to quickly move on from their FA Cup semi-final defeat as they challenge for UEFA Champions League qualification in the final month of the campaign.
Kick-off date/time: Thursday 1st May, 2025: UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – USA Network
How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / US – Universo
Nottingham Forest Preview: Forest want UCL football
Nottingham Forest come into this one on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Rico Lewis opened the scoring after two minutes in that match before Josko Gvardiol sealed the result in the 51st minute.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have still enjoyed an extremely impressive campaign and they can leap to third in the Premier League table with four games to go should they win this game at the City Ground after a 2-1 win away at Tottenham Hotspur a couple of weeks ago.
Brentford Preview: Bees can still get Europe
Brentford, coached by Thomas Frank, head into the final five games of the 2024/25 Premier League season still in contention for a top eight or a top nine finish, which could yet still be enough for UEFA Europa Conference League qualification.
The Bees most recently entertainingly defeated Brighton and Hove Albion by four goals to two at the Gtech Community Stadium with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa once again on the scoresheet. They have suffered just one defeat in their last five matches in the league.
Nottingham Forest Team News: Full-back doubts
At the weekend, in that semi-final, Nuno Espirito Santo took the surprising decision to start Zach Abbott at right-back in just his second senior start. However, that is not expected to be the case for this one with Neco Williams likely to return, whilst Ola Aina remains a fitness doubt.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Toffolo; Dominguez, Yates; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
Unavailable:
Questionable: Da Silva Moreira (Injured), Aina (Injured)
Brentford Team News: Hickey edging closer
Yunus Konak may well be unavailable for the trip to the City Ground as the Turk follows concussion protocols, whilst Aaron Hickey is still fighting his way back from a long injury layoff. Their confirmed absentees are all long-term issues such as Josh Dasilva, Fabio Carvalho and Igor Thiago.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Flekken; Kayode, Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter; Norgaard, Yamolyuk; Mbeumo, Damsgaard, Schade; Wissa
Unavailable: Dasilva (Injured), Carvalho (Injured), Thiago (Injured)
Questionable: Konak (Concussion), Hickey (Fitness)
Nottingham Forest vs Brentford Prediction
Nottingham Forest will hope their supporters are immediately back on side at the City Ground and they will want to use that atmosphere to get themselves on the front foot. Brentford have evolved their style of football to being more entertaining this season so they will also be confident of taking the game to Forest themselves, too, and it should be quite a good watch for the neutral in which both teams scoring does look a good bet for this one.
Nottingham Forest vs Brentford Tip: Both teams to score
