The pre-season friendlies continue on Wednesday as Nottingham Forest do battle with French side Rennes at St. George's Park.
Forest have recorded a series of mixed results throughout July, while Les Rennais avoided defeat in each of their four pre-season friendlies.
Match preview
Nottingham Forest head into Wednesday's clash to the back of a 1-0 defeat to Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, meaning that Steve Cooper's side have lost each of their last two friendlies without scoring a goal.
Sunday's defeat followed a 2-0 loss against Leeds United at Elland Road, with club captain Joe Worrall gifting the ball to former Forest striker Patrick Bamford, who duly opened the scoring before Ian Poveda netted the clinching goal.
The Tricky Trees kicked off their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 victory over local rivals Notts County before suffering a 1-0 defeat to Valencia, although they swiftly bounced back with a 2-1 win against Levante.
However, following back-to-back defeats, Forest have now lost three of their five pre-season friendlies, failing to score in each of those losses while netting only three goals across their five previous warm-up matches.
Given that Forest kick off their Premier League campaign against Arsenal on August 12, Cooper is expected to name a stronger starting XI for the remaining two friendlies, with the final warm-up game scheduled for this Saturday against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Rennes, meanwhile, secured an impressive 3-1 victory over West Ham United last time out, meaning that Bruno Genesio's men will fancy their chances of defeating another Premier League side on Wednesday.
Following Baptiste Santamaria's ninth-minute opener, Tomas Soucek equalised for the Hammers midway through the second half, but Arnaud Kalimuendo put Rennes back in front before Angelo Ogbonna scored an own goal late on.
Thanks to Saturday's victory, Les Rennais head to St. George's Park on a three-game winning streak, having already defeated Saint-Malo and Brest in July, with six goals scored and only two conceded across those victories.
As a result, the Red and Blacks are yet to taste defeat in pre-season, picking up three wins and one draw along the way, so they will be confident of making a strong start to the 2023-24 Ligue 1 campaign, which begins next weekend.
Having enjoyed a successful 2022-23 campaign – winning 21 of their 38 league games to finish fourth in the French top flight – Rennes will also be playing Europa League football this year.
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Team News
Ola Aina made his first appearance for Nottingham Forest on Sunday following his move from Italian side Torino, while Morgan Gibbs-White featured for the first time in pre-season after guiding England Under-21s to European glory.
In the absence of Taiwo Awoniyi, Chris Wood started up front against PSV, with Brazilian midfielder Danilo offering attacking support to the striker.
New signing Anthony Elanga could feature from the start against Rennes after coming off the bench last time out, while Neco Williams is also likely to return to the Nottingham Forest starting XI on Wednesday.
On the flip side, Rennes have been busy in the transfer market this summer, signing Enzo Le Fee from Lorient and Ludovic Blas from Nantes, while former Forest loanee Loic Bade has joined Sevilla.
Les Rennais are still without long-term injury absentees Martin Terrier (ACL) and Xeka (ankle), although Bruno Genesio has plenty of players to choose from, with Geoffrey Lembet and Gauthier Gallon joining Le Fee and Blas at the Roazhon Park.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Horvath; Aurier, Worrall, McKenna, Boly, Williams; Mangala, Danilo; Gibbs-White; Awoniyi, Elanga
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Mandanda; Doue, Theate, Omari, Belocian, Assignon; Bourigeaud, Santamaria, Majer; Doku, Abline
We say: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Rennes
While Nottingham Forest have struggled for consistency throughout pre-season, Rennes have posted three wins and one draw, including a 3-1 victory over West Ham last time out.
With that in mind, we expect Les Rennais to maintain their hot streak with a narrow victory over the Tricky Trees, who have produced several disjointed performances of late.
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