Nottingham Forest welcome Everton to the City Ground on Sunday afternoon, with just four points separating the relegation rivals in the Premier League table.

Holding a game in hand on Everton, the Tricky Trees sit four points clear of the bottom three, while the Toffees find themselves one point inside the drop zone.

Match preview

Having held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at the City Ground, Nottingham Forest would have been confident of piling more pressure on West Ham United last weekend, but they ended up collapsing in the capital.

Indeed, Steve Cooper's side suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat at the London Stadium, with the Hammers scoring all four of their goals in the space of 14 second-half minutes to keep Nott'm Forest in the relegation battle.

Although Forest have taken a solitary point from their last three outings – losing 2-0 at Fulham before the draw with Man City and the rout at West Ham – Cooper's men have avoided defeat in each of their previous eight home league games.

In fact, the Tricky Trees have transformed the City Ground into a fortress, picking up four wins and four draws since their last loss at home, with positive results against Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City coming on Trentside.

There is no hiding the fact that Nottingham Forest have the worst away record in the Premier League, but the East Midlands outfit have proved that they can go toe-to-toe with the division's top teams on home soil.

On the topic of poor away records, it is worth noting that Everton have managed to win just one of their 12 away league outings this season, with four draws and seven losses seeing them pick up one point more than Forest on their travels.

The Toffees' sole away victory came at Southampton all the way back in October, and they have only taken two points from a possible 24 on the road since then, scoring a solitary goal across their previous eight away matches.

To make matters worse, Everton have failed to claim a single point on their travels in 2023, with 2-0 losses against West Ham and Liverpool preceding Wednesday's 4-0 thrashing at the hands of title-chasing Arsenal.

The Merseyside outfit won two of their first three games under Sean Dyche, securing 1-0 victories over Arsenal and Leeds United, but they still find themselves among the favourites for relegation following back-to-back defeats.

Everton have scored a measly six league goals on their travels this term, while Forest have kept four clean sheets in their previous seven home league games, so the visitors will struggle to find the back of the net on Sunday.

Team News

An extensive injury list means that Steve Cooper has limited options for Sunday's showdown, with nine first-team players sidelined through injury, including the centre-back trio of Scott McKenna, Willy Boly and Moussa Niakhate.

As a result, Joe Worrall and Felipe will resume their partnership in front of goalkeeper Keylor Navas this weekend, while Renan Lodi and Neco Williams will occupy the full-back roles.

Serge Aurier, Taiwo Awoniyi, Dean Henderson, Giulian Biancone, Omar Richards and Cheikhou Kouyate remain sidelined for Forest, although Ryan Yates could come back into the matchday squad after missing the past few games due to illness.

Brennan Johnson – who has bagged three goals and two assists in his last seven league appearances – will join Morgan Gibbs-White in attack, with Chris Wood likely to get the nod up front.

As for Everton, key striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin looks set to miss the trip to the City Ground as he continues to recover from injury, while Nathan Patterson and Andros Townsend are also expected to be absent.

On a brighter note, James Garner is on the verge of returning to first-team action, so the ex-Nottingham Forest loanee could feature against his former club on Sunday.

Neal Maupay is expected to lead the line for the visitors this weekend, with Ellis Simms and Demarai Gray offering attacking support from the bench.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Navas; Williams, Worrall, Felipe, Lodi; Freuler, Shelvey, Mangala; Johnson, Gibbs-White; Wood

Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Iwobi, Onana, Gueye, Doucoure, McNeil; Maupay

We say: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Everton

When you couple Nottingham Forest's strong home form with Everton's poor away record, all the signs point towards another victory for Cooper's men at the City Ground.

Given that Forest have struggled for goals throughout the campaign, Sunday's clash looks destined to be a low-scoring affair, but the hosts should pull through with a fifth clean sheet in eight home league games.


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