Nottingham Forest started the 2025/26 season in style by beating Brentford 3-1 at the City Ground.
It’s been a busy week or so for the Reds, and after being confirmed in the Europa League, business has picked up on the transfer front.
Omari Hutchinson signed for Forest last weekend, with James McAtee signing at pretty much the same time as his England under-21 teammate.
Arnaud Kalimuendo has also bolstered the squad this week and it’s an exciting time to be a Forest supporter ahead of this weekend’s crunch game against Crystal Palace.
Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood celebrates during win over Brentford
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images
Paul Merson thinks Nottingham Forest star has given Nuno hope
Death, taxes and pundits predicting Forest to go down before a ball has been kicked in a Premier League campaign.
Despite finishing seventh last season, plenty of pundits have been making bonkers predictions about Forest, with Adrian Durham believing the team will finish 17th!
Merson didn’t quite go to those extremes, but he did admit to being taken aback a little bit by Forest last week against Brentford and believes Chris Wood has given Nuno Espirito Santo some hope.
He told Sportskeeda: “Nottingham Forest shocked me last weekend. I know it was only Brentford, but what a brilliant performance. Chris Wood has picked up from where he left off last season, and that’s a sign of real promise for Nuno Espirito Santo.”
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Wood scored 20 goals last season, 14 the year previous and on Sunday, he kicked off his 2025/26 campaign in style by bagging his first two goals.
Merson predicts score of Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest
Not only did Merson have praise for Wood, but he also predicted the Reds to beat Palace when the two teams meet at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon.
Palace drew their first game 0-0 with Chelsea, but this weekend, there is likely to be no Eberechi Eze as he looks set to move to Arsenal ahead of the next round of games.
Merson thinks that the fact that Palace won’t have their influential talisman, coupled with the fact they had to play a UEFA Conference League play-off on Thursday, means that Forest will claim a 2-0 victory.
That would be just the tonic for the Reds and hopefully, three more points can come back to Nottingham from South London.