MY ACCOUNT
– Nottingham Forest’s solid home form has kept their survival hopes alive this season
– Wolves have lost half of their games against others in the relegation scrap
– Recommended bet: Nottingham Forest draw no bet
Wolves went into the international break aggrieved to have lost two successive matches in which contentious refereeing decisions twice played a key role.
Those back-to-back defeats to Newcastle and Leeds have kept Wanderers in the thick of the relegation scrap and while the safety of mid-table has often looked tantalisingly close during Julen Lopetegui’s reign, Wolves now find themselves just three points above the bottom three.
Such is the tight nature of the bottom of the table — with just four points separating the bottom nine — that any loss to a relegation rival will be costly, and Lopetegui will know that defeat at the City Ground will see their hosts leapfrog them and push his side deep into trouble.
Forest, too, have slipped back following an excellent run of results at the start of the year, but Steve Cooper’s men have been solid on home soil and will fancy their chances of gaining another crucial City Ground success.
Team news
Nottingham Forest could have as many as 15 players unavailable this weekend.
Centre-forward Chris Wood, goalkeeper Dean Henderson and defenders Wily Boly, Giulian Biancone and Omar Richards are confirmed absentees.
Serge Aurier, Andre Ayew and Gustavo Scarpa are also doubts after picking up injuries on international duty.
Goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and forwards Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis also look likely to miss out while attacker Brennan Johnson and midfielder Ryan Yates are rated 50/50.
However, centre-back Scott McKenna and midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate could both return.
Wolves’ Matheus Nunes is available after his red card against Leeds was rescinded and fellow midfielder Boubacar Traore and right-back Nelson Semedo have recovered from injury.
Jonny serves the first of a three-match suspension, forwards Chiquinho and Sasa Kalajdzic are out for the season and winger Hwang Hee-chan is unavailable, but defender Hugo Bueno will take a late fitness test.
The stats
Nottingham Forest have lost only two of 11 home games against teams outside the current top five this season, with all five wins within that set finishing either 1-0 or 2-0.
That includes a 1-0 defeat of Liverpool and four wins from six against other teams in the bottom nine.
Wolves have a patchy record against the other eight teams still in the relegation mix, winning five but losing six of 12 such matches.
Goals remain a problem for Lopetegui’s team, who have scored the joint-fewest in the top flight along with Forest, with the pair having netted just 22 goals each.
Prediction
This is likely to be a tight, tense encounter between two teams who will place greater emphasis on not losing than winning and that makes the addition of under 2.5 goals — or even under 1.5 — an interesting option for Bet Builder selections.
However, Forest’s solid home record makes them the more fancied outright selection as Cooper’s men have lost just twice when hosting teams outside the top five this season and were very unfortunate on both occasions to lose to Fulham and Bournemouth.
Adding a ‘draw no bet’ element is an appealing safety buffer given Forest’s lack of firepower if Brennan Johnson misses out, but Cooper’s men have the set-piece threat and solidity to edge favouritism against a toothless and hard-to-trust Wolves side.
Back Nottingham Forest draw no bet, available at 21/20 with LiveScore Bet.
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