Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has defended his decision to rotate his side in the Europa League ahead of the Premier League meeting with Leeds United.
Chris Sutton has backed Forest to pull off a comfortable home win against Leeds to help them close the gap in the Premier League relegation race.
Leeds have not won at the City Ground in the top flight since 1971, and the Whites have struggled for form away from home at the start of the season so far.
Dyche’s Nottingham Forest travelled to Austria to face Sturm Graz in the Europa League on Thursday night, securing a 0-0 draw as the Forest boss made seven changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Manchester United last weekend.
Now, Dyche has defended his decision to rotate his team, as Daniel Farke looks to get Leeds’ season back on track with a much-needed win.
Sean Dyche during Nottingham Forest v Manchester United - Premier League
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Sean Dyche defends Nottingham Forest rotation ahead of Leeds United clash
Forest have several injury concerns as they prepare to host Leeds, with former Leeds forward Chris Wood facing a race against time to be fit for the game.
Star midfielder Elliot Anderson was left behind in England as Forest travelled to Austria, and Dyche has confirmed that the decision was precautionary ahead of an important clash.
However, speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, the Forest boss denied that this selection had one eye on the weekend’s game against Leeds.
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“It’s not rotating for the sake of it, it’s because we had to,” Dyche said. “You look at the injuries. Elliot was more of a precaution, but he’s got various knocks he’s been carrying, so we wanted to give him a chance to try to ease them.”
He continued: “We want to win against Leeds, obviously, but then hopefully the international break just gives players a bit more time and the injuries can settle down.”
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Leeds United can exploit Nottingham Forest’s poor defensive track record
While Dyche will be pleased to see his side claim a clean sheet in Europe, their lack of clean sheets in the Premier League will be cause for concern ahead of the meeting against Leeds.
Leeds will be hoping that Dominic Calvert-Lewin can recover in time to exploit Forest’s issues at the back, having been substituted against Brighton.
According to the BBC, Forest are on a run of 18 consecutive Premier League games without keeping a clean sheet. As a result, the 2025/26 season is only the second top-flight season without a clean sheet in their opening 10 games.
Forest have also now gone nine games without a Premier League win, their longest winless run since April 2023, when they went 11 without a win, including a defeat against Leeds under Javi Gracia.