MY ACCOUNT
Newly-promoted Nottingham Forest will aim to maintain their early-season momentum and keep Everton on the floor when they travel to Goodison Park on Saturday.
Steve Cooper’s side, who earned a thrilling home win over West Ham last weekend, will fancy their chances of stunning a struggling Toffees side without a point so far this season.
Everton have had their share of ups and downs in the 23 years since this fixture was last played, but they have always maintained their Premier League status.
That seems to be under major threat this term, however, with Frank Lampard’s squad already low on confidence and ravaged by injuries.
Team news
Lampard’s planning has been disrupted by injuries this term with as many as six Everton players on the list of absentees this week.
Abdoulaye Doucoure, Ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina, Andre Gomes, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Andros Townsend are all out, but Seamus Coleman and new signing Amadou Onana could step up from the bench.
Conor Coady will start in the centre of Lampard’s three-man defence alongside James Tarkowski and Mason Holgate.
Nathan Patterson impressed as Everton’s right wing-back at Villa Park and should keep his place, with Vitalii Mykolenko continuing on the left-hand side.
Onana will almost certainly come in for Doucoure, who was forced off after just half an hour of play last weekend, while Anthony Gordon looks likely to reprise his role as the centrepiece of Everton’s attack – flanked by Dwight McNeil and Demarai Gray.
Forest are dealing with fewer injury problems as only Ryan Yates and Omar Richards are not fit enough to travel to Goodison Park.
Cooper will probably keep faith with the same line-up that beat West Ham if all eleven are ready to go, although his squad grows by the day and offers him three new options this weekend.
The signings of midfielder Remo Freuler, striker Emmanuel Dennis and club-record buy Morgan Gibbs-White were all sealed in the last few days and now give Forest much greater squad depth for the gruelling campaign ahead.
The stats
Everton have lost both of their first two Premier League games for the first time since 2009-10 and have not lost each of their opening three matches in a league campaign since 1990-91.
They will need to keep an eye on ex-Liverpool forward Taiwo Awoniyi, who scored Forest’s winner against West Ham in his first-ever Premier League start.
The only player to score in his first two Premier League starts for the club is Stan Collymore.
Forest may need to tighten up as the season progresses, however, as they have faced more shots (42) than any other club so far and have the highest expected goals against tally (4.03) in the Premier League.
Prediction
Everton’s luck seems to go from bad to worse as this could be the worst time to play Forest, who are coming off a morale-boosting win and recruiting more quality players by the day.
Lampard’s team will need to get the crowd behind them quickly in order to maximise home advantage, but Cooper’s team held firm for long periods in their opening away game at Newcastle.
The longer the Toffees go without scoring, the greater the frustration inside Goodison is likely to get and the mood can quickly turn sour if the visitors get the first goal.
Cooper’s charges proved expert at grinding out 1-0 wins – often via late winners – last season and can pull off something similar on Saturday.
