Both aiming to avoid their first defeat of pre-season, Nottingham Forest and Millwall square off at the Pinatar Arena in Southern Spain for Tuesday's friendly in sweltering conditions.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side settled for a 1-1 draw against Sunderland on Friday in their second exhibition game of the summer, while their Championship counterparts defeated Reading 2-1 in Wokingham.
Match preview
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Six days on from an effortless 3-0 beating of Chesterfield in their opening pre-season encounter, Nottingham Forest crossed the Black Cats' path in Friday's tussle with Sunderland, the first of three fixtures Santo's side will take part in during their Spanish sojourn.
The Garibaldi entered the break needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit, as Jack Clarke stroked home from the penalty spot after the highly-rated Chris Rigg was felled by Murillo, but the Premier League outfit restored parity just three minutes into the second period through Omar Richards.
It took a top save from Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson to deny Ryan Yates a winning goal right at the death, after which Santo labelled the stalemate a "typical" pre-season fixture, lamenting the Spanish heat and the "slow" pace of the game.
The Portuguese's wish for a more energetic encounter may go unfulfilled until Forest touch back down on English soil - the Tricky Trees will conclude their training camp against Elche on July 27, before returning to the City Ground to host Villarreal early next month.
Forest's final pre-season fixture takes Santo's side to Greece for a showdown with Olympiacos - another club under the control of owner Evangelos Marinakis - before the Garibaldi begin their latest quest for Premier League survival against Bournemouth on August 17.
![Millwall manager Neil Harris pictured in April 2024 [IMAGO]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/25/neil-harris.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Millwall manager Neil Harris pictured in April 2024 [IMAGO]")
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While Nottingham Forest are now partially acclimatised to the soaring Spanish temperatures, Millwall are yet to take to the Pinatar pitches for their double-header abroad; Neil Harris's side will also pit their wits against Real Murica three days after their Forest friendly.
The Lions have enjoyed a near-impeccable summer run so far, being held to a forgettable goalless draw against Harris's former club Gillingham before putting Charlton Atheltic and Millwall to the sword, scoring four goals and shipping just one in the process.
That solitary strike conceded came against the Royals on Friday, but efforts from Romain Esse and Zian Flemming ensured that Millwall's feel-good factor would be prolonged; Harris's men are now on a streak of eight competitive and non-competitive matches without defeat.
Once their brief stopover in Spain is complete, Millwall will return to The Den to welcome Premier League-bound Southampton in their final pre-season friendly, before bidding to make it six Championship wins on the spin in their opening clash with Watford on August 10.
However, Harris's number one priority this week will be bucking a recent trend against Nottingham Forest, who have gone unbeaten in their last four competitive meetings with Millwall since being humbled 3-0 in March 2020, just before the first COVID-19 lockdown.
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Team News
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The day before their two-goal stalemate with Sunderland, Nottingham Forest confirmed the capture of Serbia international defender Nikola Milenkovic from Fiorentina, but the 26-year-old will not make his debut just yet as he continues his post-Euro 2024 recovery.
Belgian goalkeeper Matz Sels is in the same boat, as is Argentina right-back Gonzalo Montiel - who won the Copa America with his country - but USA goalkeeper Matt Turner played the second half of Friday's draw.
New acquisition Carlos Miguel completed the first 45 of that tie before making way for his American foe, while Elliot Anderson was also given a 45-minute run-out after his arrival from Newcastle United.
Speaking of new goalkeepers, Millwall shot-stopper Lukas Jensen was the only player to complete over an hour of the beating of Reading, where fellow summer signings Macaulay Langstaff and Japhet Tanganga also appeared.
The latter was given a 30-minute run-out but may now be promoted to the first XI against Premier League opposition, while Wes Harding played an hour on Friday following his return from Copa America duty with Jamaica.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Turner; Williams, Boly, Murillo, Toffolo; Dominguez, Danilo; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Dennis
Millwall possible starting lineup:
Jensen; McNamara, Tanganga, Cooper, Bryan; Watmore, Saville, Honeyman, Esse; Langstaff, Nisbet
We say: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Millwall
With rotations aplenty and Millwall players getting used to the unforgiving heat, the circumstances do not give rise to a goal-laden affair on Tuesday, where one strike may settle it.
Given the resources at Santo's disposal, that solitary effort should come the way of the Premier League giants, but a goalless affair is not beyond the realm of possibility either.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
