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Nottingham Forest logo
Championship | Gameweek 17
Nov 6, 2021 at 3pm UK
City Ground
Preston North End logo

Nott'm Forest
3 - 0
Preston

Grabban (32' pen., 70'), Colback (41')
Grabban (50'), Taylor (90+3')
FT(HT: 2-0)

Hughes (26'), Whiteman (32'), McCann (43'), Storey (52')

Preview: Nottingham Forest vs. Preston North End - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Saturday's Championship clash between Nottingham Forest and Preston North End, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Nottingham Forest head into Saturday's fixture with Preston North End looking to record their first win in four Championship fixtures.

However, Preston make the trip to the City Ground on the back of ending the long unbeaten run of leaders Bournemouth earlier this week.


Match preview

Nottingham Forest's head coach Steve Cooper on October 19, 2021© Reuters

Now eight matches into his reign as Nottingham Forest boss, Steve Cooper is realising that life at the City Ground is not as rosy as he may have thought.

On the back of a four-match winning streak, Forest have collected just two points from three games, both of which have been earned through late equalisers.

Their most recent win against Bristol City also came courtesy of two last-gasp strikes, and a trend is developing where they are struggling to gain an upper hand during the opening three quarters.

While Cooper will be delighted with the character of his squad, he is still waiting for something to click with the rest of their game.

Still, a return of 15 points from eight matches is promotion-level form, and there will be no complaints if that ratio can be replicated over the coming months.

Preston North End manager Frankie McAvoy on October 23, 2021© Reuters

There have been times this season when a succession of draws have undermined the fine work that Frankie McAvoy is doing at Deepdale.

However, he is now starting to reap the benefits, his Preston team backing up a home victory against Luton Town with one of the performances of the season at Bournemouth.

North End had to ride their luck to overcome the runaway Cherries, but they were fully deserving of their maximum points at the Vitality Stadium.

Now sitting just four points adrift of fifth position, another match-winning performance in the East Midlands will provide Preston with the momentum required to emerge as dark horses for the playoffs in the long term.

That said, it should not go unnoticed that Wednesday's triumph against Bournemouth represented their first away league win of the season.

Nottingham Forest Championship form:
  • W
  • W
  • W
  • L
  • D
  • D

Preston North End Championship form:
  • L
  • D
  • W
  • L
  • W
  • W



Team News

Nottingham Forest's Philip Zinckernagel celebrates scoring against Barnsley in the Championship on September 29, 2021© Reuters

With Max Lowe available to return to the Forest XI, Jack Colback could return to central midfield at the expense of James Garner.

Having netted Forest's late equaliser against Sheffield United, Lewis Grabban is in line to replace Lyle Taylor in attack.

Philip Zinckernagel will also hope to come back into the team ahead of Joe Lolley.

Barring any late fitness issues, Preston boss McAvoy could stick with the team which started at Bournemouth.

Brad Potts, Greg Cunningham and Daniel Johnson are all alternatives if he wants to introduce fresh legs in certain areas of the pitch.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Samba; Worrall, Figueiredo, McKenna; Spence, Yates, Garner, Lowe; Lolley; Johnson, Grabban

Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Iversen; Van den Berg, Bauer, Hughes; Barkhuizen, McCann, Whiteman, Earl; Browne; Riis, Maguire


SM words green background

We say: Nottingham Forest 2-1 Preston North End

While Preston will be on a high after their visit to the South Coast, it remains to be seen how much that performance took out of them. With that in mind, we are backing Forest to use their home advantage to edge this contest in the closing stages.



Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data



ID:469212:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:collect8177:
Written by
Darren Plant

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Preston North End win with a probability of 39.71%. A win for Nottingham Forest had a probability of 32.42% and a draw had a probability of 27.9%.

The most likely scoreline for a Preston North End win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.87%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.21%) and 0-2 (7.44%). The likeliest Nottingham Forest win was 1-0 (10.45%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.1%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 2.1% likelihood.


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Game History

How you voted: Nott'm Forest vs Preston

Nottingham Forest
65.0%
Draw
15.0%
Preston North End
20.0%
20
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Nottingham Forest's Max Lowe celebrates scoring their first goal against Millwall in the Championship on September 25, 2021
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
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3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City158342721627
6Aston Villa167452425-125
7Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton156632522324
8Bournemouth157352320324
9Fulham166642422224
10Brentford157263128323
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
12Tottenham HotspurSpurs1562731191220
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd155461918119
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham155372028-818
15Everton153661421-715
16Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
17Crystal Palace152761420-613
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1512121131-205


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