Nottingham Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo welcomes his former side Wolverhampton Wanderers to the City Ground for a Premier League contest on Saturday afternoon.
Neither team could be separated last season as they played out two score draws, including an entertaining 2-2 draw at the City Ground in April.
Match preview
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After playing out a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season, Nottingham Forest picked up their first three points in a narrow 1-0 victory away against Southampton last Saturday thanks to a second-half strike from Morgan Gibbs-White.
However, the Tricky Trees have since been eliminated in the second round of the EFL Cup after losing 4-3 on penalties to Newcastle United on Wednesday following a 1-1 draw at the City Ground.
Summer signing Jota Silva scored a wonderful volley on his full debut five minutes after half time to cancel out an 18-second opener from Newcastle's Joe Willock, but two woeful spot kicks from Ibrahim Sangare and Taiwo Awoniyi ultimately proved costly in the shootout.
Nevertheless, Nuno has taken positives from his side's fightback against Newcastle and is now focused on extending the club's unbeaten Premier League run; Forest last avoided defeat in their opening three top-flight games of a new season back in 1995-96 when they ended the campaign in ninth.
Forest have struggled in recent meetings with Wolves as they have only won one of their last 11 league games against the Midlands outfit - a 2-0 victory at Molineux in January 2018 when both teams were competing in the Championship.
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Wolves are one of five Premier League teams who are yet to pick up a single point in the new campaign after losing to London duo Arsenal and Chelsea in their opening two matches, suffering a heavy 6-2 home defeat to the latter last weekend.
A frantic first-half saw Wolves duo Matheus Cunha and new signing Jorgen Strand Larsen cancel out goals from Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer, but defensive mistakes littered their performance after the break, with Noni Madueke netting a 14-minute hat-trick for the Blues before Joao Felix completed the rout 10 minutes from time.
Excluding teams relegated from the Premier League last season, no club has suffered more defeats in the division since the start of 2023-24 than Wolves (20), while they have only won one of their 19 top-flight matches in the month of August since securing promotion in 2019 (D8 L10).
Gary O'Neil was seeking a response from his Wolves side in Wednesday's EFL Cup second-round tie at home to Burnley, and after making 10 changes he got just that, as a brace from Goncalo Guedes sealed a 2-0 victory, setting up a third-round tie with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Wolves may have lost their last five Premier League games, conceding 18 goals in the process, but they are unbeaten in their last six away league meetings with Saturday's opponents Nottingham Forest, winning three and drawing three.
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Team News
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Nottingham Forest will be without midfielder Danilo, who is targeting a return in December after breaking his ankle on the opening weekend, while Ryan Yates will be assessed ahead of kickoff after missing the midweek EFL Cup loss through illness.
New signing Alex Moreno - on loan from Aston Villa - was one of four players handed their Forest debut in midweek and he will be pushing to start again at left-back ahead of Ola Aina, while Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo could both be recalled to play at centre-back.
Gibbs-White, formerly of Wolves who was been called up to the England squad this week, is set to link up with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga in attack along with striker Chris Wood.
As for Wolves, Sasa Kalajdzic, Enso Gonzalez (both knee) and Leon Chiwone (ankle) all remain sidelined with injuries, but Nelson Semedo is available to return after serving a three-match ban that crossed over from last season.
The Portuguese right-back could replace Pedro Lima, who impressed on his full debut in midweek, in the starting lineup, while Yerson Mosquera and Toti Gomes are set to return at centre-back at the expense of Craig Dawson and Santiago Bueno.
Guedes will be pushing to start in attack after netting twice in midweek, but O'Neil will likely stick with Cunha and Larsen in the final third, with Hwang Hee-chan and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde providing support out wide.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Moreno; Anderson, Sangare; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Semedo, Mosquera, T.Gomes, Ait Nouri; J.Gomes, Lemina; Hwang, Cunha, Bellegarde; Larsen
We say: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Each of the last three Premier League meetings between Nottingham Forest and Wolves have ended as a draw and another closely-fought contest could be played out on Saturday. Both teams will view this fixture as a winnable one, on paper, but it is difficult to separate them at this stage, so the spoils could be shared once again.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
