Preview: Brentford vs. Nottingham Forest - prediction, team news, lineups

Posted Friday, December 20, 2024 by sportsmole.co.uk

After their dreams of EFL Cup stardom crashed and burned in midweek, Brentford make a welcome return to the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, when Nottingham Forest visit for a Premier League battle.

Thomas Frank's men fell to a 3-1 loss to Newcastle United in Wednesday's cup quarter-final, while the Garibaldi pulled off a tremendous late turnaround to sink Aston Villa 2-1 last weekend.

Away days may continue to fill the Brentford faithful with a sense of dread heading into the New Year; after coming close but no cigar to taking a point off of West London rivals Chelsea, the Bees were comfortably swept aside by Newcastle in Wednesday's EFL Cup bout.

A double from Sandro Tonali and tap-in from Fabian Schar meant that the result was a foregone conclusion before Yoane Wissa's stoppage-time consolation, as Frank was left to bemoan the "soft" goals his side gave up to Eddie Howe's team at St James' Park.

Now only focusing on Premier League matters until their FA Cup campaign gets underway next month, the Bees' 11th-placed ranking in the Premier League table embodies that of a side with the best home record in the entire division and the second-worst away record of the 2024-25 campaign.

Indeed, while Frank's side cannot buy a win on the road, they have accrued a magnificent 22 points from 24 on offer at the Gtech Community Stadium this season and are one of only two teams still with their unbeaten home record intact, the other being London rivals Arsenal.

Brentford may not have kept a single clean sheet at their West London headquarters in this season's top flight, but they have scored at least three goals in each of their last five home thrillers; not since 1930 have they scored three or more goals in six consecutive matches in front of their own fans.

Hoping to avoid becoming the next victims of a goal-laden Gtech thriller, Nottingham Forest's non-participation in the EFL Cup quarter-finals gave Nuno Espirito Santo's men a full week to bask in the glory of a spectacular turnaround in Premier League gameweek 16.

Aston Villa duo Jhon Duran and Emiliano Martinez - who pulled off what may go down as one of the greatest saves the Premier League has ever seen - seemingly had the last laugh at the City Ground on December 14, only for Nikola Milenkovic's second goal in as many games and Anthony Elanga's last-gasp winner to complete an incredible Forest comeback.

Enhancing their Champions League credentials at the expense of Unai Emery's side, surprise package Forest have leapfrogged stuttering champions Manchester City into the top four of the Premier League table, and only two points are separating them from Arsenal and a place on the podium.

An equal number of Forest's 28 points have been amassed on the road and at the City Ground this season, but Santo's men are without a clean sheet in six successive Premier League matches on the road, not a brilliant omen before a visit to the division's home goalscoring specialists.

Furthermore, Brentford are yet to suffer defeat to Forest in the Premier League since the latter's promotion in 2022 - winning both of their battles at the Gtech - and not since a 1-0 January 2020 triumph at Griffin Park have the Tricky Trees come up trumps in this head-to-head.

Brentford's midweek misery was compounded by two new defensive injury blows, as Ethan Pinnock came off with a hamstring injury in the 14th minute of Wednesday's defeat, while Sepp van den Berg missed out entirely with a groin concern.

Barring miraculous recoveries, the duo should take their places on the sidelines with Gustavo Nunes (back), Rico Henry (knee), Aaron Hickey (thigh), Josh Dasilva (knee) and Mathias Jensen (thigh), leaving Frank short on rearguard reinforcements for Saturday's affair.

Igor Thiago was nowhere to be seen at St James' Park either, and Frank has now revealed that the striker is suffering from a "very unlucky" joint infection, ruling him out of contention for the foreseeable future.

Frank and Santo can empathise when it comes to new defensive concerns, as Murillo picked up a knock midway through the second half of the triumph over Villa, while Ryan Yates was also seen limping at the full-time whistle.

However, the Tricky Trees boss is keeping his fingers crossed that both cornerstones will be available for the trip to the capital, where on-loan Aston Villa man Alex Moreno will also return after he was ineligible to face his parent team.

Should Yates and Murillo be given the thumbs-up to reprise their roles in the first XI, only Danilo (ankle) and Ibrahim Sangare (hamstring) will miss out for the visitors.

Brentford possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Roerslev, Collins, Mee, Ajer; Norgaard, Janelt, Damsgaard; Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Moreno; Yates, Anderson; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood

We say: Brentford 3-2 Nottingham Forest
No matter how dire Brentford's situation appears to be when they play away from home, Frank's men always respond with a spectacular attacking performance on their own patch, and Saturday's game should be no different.

A morale-boosted Forest side have our backing to wipe out the Bees' clean sheet, especially with the fresher legs in their ranks, but Santo's men are not at all watertight defensively away from home and should fall just short in a blow to their Champions League chances.