Third Time's a Charm For Town Against Forest?
Friday, 14th Mar 2025 19:58
Town and Nottingham Forest meet for the third time this season at Portman Road on Saturday with the Blues looking for their first victory over the high-flying Midlanders and their first win in the Premier League in 2025.
The teams have met twice at the City Ground with Forest winning the league encounter 1-0 via a penalty and then earlier this month the FA Cup fifth round tie on penalties 5-4 following a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes.
“I think when you play teams in the cup it’s always another layer of experience for both sides,” Town manager Kieran McKenna said.
“We’ve had two games against them, similar games, to be fair, both away from home, where we did some good things in the game.
“Both games, both teams implemented how they like to play at different times in the game and they came out on top with a penalty decision in the league game and the FA Cup game went for 120 minutes.
“We know how good Nottingham Forest have been this year, how they’ve developed the club over the last couple of years. Of course, there are positives to take from the fact that we’ve competed with them in those games and we want to really take the next step in this one.
“But there are probably certain bits of the game which will be the same, I’m sure both teams will always try or adjust some little things as well, so it’s a new game starting Saturday and we’ll do everything we can to come out on top.”
Forest are having a remarkable season and currently sit third in the Premier League table.
Last week, they beat Manchester City 1-0 at the City Ground, completing a big week in which they had defeated the Blues on penalties in the FA Cup to reach the quarter-finals.
The victory over City ended a three-game winless run, a 2-1 defeat at Fulham and a 4-3 loss at Newcastle having been followed by a 0-0 draw at Arsenal.
Away from home in the Premier League this season, they have won seven, drawn two and lost five, including their last three on the road, the Cottagers and Magpies games and a 5-0 hammering at AFC Bournemouth in January.
Only seven sides have conceded more on their travels than Forest’s 23, while eight have scored more than their 22.
McKenna has been very impressed with the Tricky Trees’ season, which he believes even they will have been surprised by to some degree.
“I don’t know how they operate, but I don’t imagine that they would have guessed that they would have been third in the league at this stage of the season. There’s no doubt that they’ve done fantastically well,” he said.
“They’ve found a formula that works really, really well for them and for their players and they’ve picked up fantastic results across the season. Full credit to them for that.
“We know the strength of the opponent we’re facing and that’s what we’re getting ready for.”
Forest, who are in their third season back in the Premier League, finished 17th last season, only six points from relegation having been 16th the year before, four points from safety.
Can their progress this season give other sides towards the bottom of the division and those coming up from the Championship encouragement?
“In some ways, yes,” McKenna considered. “I think it shows how tight the division is and the margins are really, really small each week, as we know, so the difference between losing out on the margins or winning out on the margins is pretty small.
“I think not just Nottingham Forest but Bournemouth and one or two other teams have shown that with the margins being that small, by making some improvements, and sometimes some small improvements, you can climb pretty quickly.
“They show the competitiveness of the division and how there isn’t too much between a lot of the teams.
“In terms of their story from promotion, I think with things like that everyone’s story is so unique. I don’t think they can be compared, how they came up, what they’ve invested since, the amount of players they’ve brought in, each club who gets promoted, gets promoted in a very different way.
“Some, like Leicester and Southampton this year, have one year out of the Premier League and parachute payments. Some, like ourselves, haven’t been in it for 22 years.
“Nottingham Forest, big club, but have done it differently and went about it differently in terms of how they’ve recruited over the last few seasons.
“I think each club’s unique and I don’t think there’s too much, certainly for us as a club, that we take from other newly promoted clubs because we know our journey and our story to this point is really, really different.”
Former Blues loan striker Chris Wood has had his best ever Premier League season at 33, having scored 18 goals so far.
McKenna was asked whether some of the Forest squad, including the New Zealand international, were having the seasons of their lives.
“In some cases,” the Blues boss said, “certainly Chris Wood. If we weren’t facing them this weekend, I think everyone would take great joy in seeing a professional like that who has worked his career and now is showing what you can do into your 30s in the Premier League if you keep honing your craft over the years. He’s certainly had an incredible season.
“But other than that, they’ve got some top talent, Anthony Elanga, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Morgan Gibbs-White, they’ve all come through the academy system. I’ve worked with or seen those players through the years and they’re top, top, top talents. Ola Aina the same, coming through at Chelsea I faced him a lot.
“They are top talented players, Elliot Anderson the same, as high a level talent as there is in the country.
“As a club they’ve managed to recruit and acquire quite a few of them and that’s given them a fantastic base for the squad and they’ve made some great signings from abroad, the likes of Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic, they’ve made some great signings over a lot of years and amongst a lot of other signings as well.
“Full credit to them, they’ve got a really good squad together and they’re doing really well.”
Does he take encouragement from how tight the previous two meetings have been? “I’m probably past the point of taking that encouragement. Of course, it’s good we’ve competed with them, but my whole focus is how to take the next step.
“They’re really, really hard to create chances against and to create big chances and to score goals against whenever they’re defending as a whole team, so we have to find a way to try and break them down.
“But you also know that if you open up the game and if you go and chase the goal in too aggressive a manner, they can be incredibly efficient on the counter-attack and they’ve shown that with some big wins this year.
“Of course, we’ve learned a little bit from the first two games, but the biggest focus is trying to find a way that we can take that next step and find a way to go and score goals against them, enough goals to win the game, without opening up the game to the point that their pace and threat on the transition becomes a big, big danger at our end.
“That’s a really big challenge but it’s an exciting one and one to look forward to, and we’re going to take that on tomorrow.”
Asked what the next step he refers to is, he added: “The next step is points on the board, more than we have in the recent block of games. We’ve been really, really close, you can look at so many. We’re nine games since the halfway point now and apart from Man City and Liverpool, I think we’ve been absolutely bang in every single game.
“And each one you could go through and they’ve got moments, big incidents, chances maybe that we’ve missed or opportunities that we’ve not taken and then goals that we’ve maybe conceded or opportunities that the other team have taken that have swung the games narrowly in their favour.
“It’s about trying to find those margins to take our opportunities when they come, to try and make sure we find another level of concentration from a defensive point of view if we don’t score the goal to make sure that we don’t concede a goal.
“And it’s trying to find that next margin, to turn those competitive performances that we’ve shown all season \[into points\].
“But, to be honest, as much as the points don’t reflect that over the last period, I think we are increasingly competitive and we have to maintain the good things that make us that, but also now try and find a way to come out on top in those tight situations.”
The Team
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McKenna probably won’t stray too far from the team which started at Crystal Palace last week.
Alex Palmer will be in goal with Dara O’Shea again likely to be on the right of the defence and Leif Davis on the left with Luke Woolfenden and Jacob Greaves the centre-halves.
At the centre of midfield, Kalvin Phillips seems likely to be partnered again by Jens Cajuste with Sam Morsy on the bench, O’Shea wearing the captain’s armband in the Egypt international’s absence.
In the three ahead of them, Omari Hutchinson could return to the XI on the right having been a sub at Selhurst Park with Julio Enciso in the centre and Jaden Philogene moving to the left and Jack Clarke dropping out. Liam Delap will be the number nine.
The Opposition
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Forest head coach Nuno Espírito Santo, who will be in charge of his side in the Premier League for the 50th time, is expecting a tough match having faced the Blues twice at the City Ground this season and having been to Portman Road when Wolves boss.
“They are a very talented team and Kieran is a good manager,” he said at his press conference.
“We can see and we’ve felt how hard the game will be. It will be a very tough game on Saturday, especially at their home.
“I’ve been there before so we’re aware of how hard it will be but now we just have to think about ourselves. Tomorrow we must prepare well and compete on Saturday.”
He says he and his squad quickly turned their attentions to Town following their victory over City.
“When we work and do things together in a nice way as a team, we can compete against any team. This is what these moments can give us. We always want to move forward in a good way,” he added.
“There is no better feeling than to finish a game where you have performed well and you see how proud the fans are.
“It is a moment to celebrate and it could last longer, but it finishes that day and we start the preparations for the next one.”
Forest’s only injury absentee is back-up keeper Carlos Miguel, who is out with a hamstring problem.
History
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Historically, Forest very much have the upper hand, winning 39 of the games between the two sides (36 in the league), with 20 (18) ending in draws and Town winning 22 (21).
Town have won only one of the last eight games between the clubs, a 4-2 victory at Portman Road in December 2017.
Earlier this month at the City Ground, Jack Taylor missed the decisive penalty as the Blues exited the FA Cup at the fifth round stage 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
George Hirst gave Town the lead in the 53rd minute, but home skipper Ryan Yates levelled on 68 and neither team was able to find another goal in the remaining minutes and extra-time.
The penalty shootout had been note perfect from both teams until Taylor hit a weak effort to Matz Sels’s left and the keeper saved to set up a quarter-final tie at Brighton for Forest.
At the City Ground in December in the Premier League, former Town loanee Wood’s penalty four minutes after half-time was enough to give the home side a 1-0 victory.
After a first half in which both sides had efforts cleared off the line and the Blues had the other outstanding opportunity, Szmodics was controversially adjudged to have fouled Jota Silva by referee Tony Harrington, a decision VAR upheld, and Wood netted confidently from the spot.
The teams most recently met at Portman Road in March 2019 with the Blues on their way to relegation from the Championship.
Collin Quaner’s first Blues goal gave Town a fifth-minute lead but Molla Wague equalised for Nottingham Forest on 31 as Paul Lambert’s side recorded their sixth 1-1 draw in seven games.
Quaner stabbed in a Gwion Edwards cross to put Town ahead but Wague scrambled home from a corner as Forest had the better of the first half.
The Blues were dominant after the break but were unable to turn their superiority into what would have been only their fourth win of the season.
Familiar Faces
Forest striker Wood was on loan with the Blues from Leicester in the 2014/15 Championship play-off season but never got fully fit before being recalled by the Foxes having made only three starts and five sub appearances without scoring.
Blues keeper Aro Muric made five appearances for Forest during a season-loan loan spell in the 2019/20 season.
Town boss McKenna worked in the Forest academy with younger age groups for almost two seasons during his time studying for a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science at Loughborough University between 2009 and 2012.
Former Town U18s coach Sam Darlow is now working in the Tricky Trees’ youth set-up, coaching their U21s.
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Officials
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Saturday’s referee is Michael Salisbury, his assistants Simon Bennett and Akil Howson, and the fourth official. Steve Martin. The VAR official is Jarred Gillet and his assistant Dan Cook.
Salisbury, whose father is long-serving EFL referee Graham Salisbury, is in his fourth season in the Premier League.
The Preston-based official’s last Town match was the 4-1 defeat at Liverpool in January when he booked Delap and Enciso.
He was also the VAR official for the Brighton home game when he failed to overrule referee Tony Harrington’s decision not to send off Joao Pedro for his challenge on Blues keeper Walton, with ex-referees’ chief Keith Hackett highly critical of the pair afterwards.
Salisbury was at Portman Road in December when he refereed the 2-1 defeat to AFC Bournemouth, booking Delap, Sammie Szmodics and one of the visitors.
Prior to that, he was slated to take charge of the Blues’ 4-1 defeat at Manchester City in August but pulled out just before kick-off due to injury and was the fourth official. He was also the VAR official for the Brighton away match.
The only other Town game he has taken charge of was the famous 3-2 victory over Southampton at Portman Road in April last year in which he booked Morsy, Conor Chaplin and Jack Taylor, as well as one Saint, and dismissed former Blues loanee James Bree with five minutes remaining for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Squad From
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Palmer, Walton, Slicker, Davis, Townsend, Johnson, Godfrey, O’Shea, Woolfenden, Burgess, Greaves, Morsy, Cajuste, Phillips, Luongo, Taylor, Philogene, Clarke, Hutchinson, Enciso, Broadhead, Delap, Hirst.
_TWTD_
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