Nottingham Forest host Leicester City at the City Ground in the fight for Premier League survival.
Victory could see Forest climb to 13th in the table if Leeds lose on Friday evening, whilst Leicester will stay 13th with a win.
Team News
Taiwo Awoniyi could return for Forest after he was rested for their last two matches due to fatigue.
Neco Williams (face) is a doubt but Jesse Lingard, Cheikhou Kouyate (both hamstring), Giulian Biancone (knee), Moussa Niakhate (thigh) and Omar Richards (leg) remain absent.
Leicester could be without Ayoze Perez after he suffered a knock in their midweek Carabao Cup defeat at Newcastle.
Dennis Praet (rib/hip) is a doubt but James Justin, Ricardo Pereira (both Achilles), Jonny Evans (calf), Kieran Dewsbury-Hall (gluteal), Boubakary Soumare (hamstring), James Maddison and Ryan Bertrand (both knee) all remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Forest meet Leicester at the City Ground in an untelevised East Midlands derby on Saturday 14 January, with kick-off confirmed for 3pm GMT.
Stat Attack
- Forest have won just one of their last five Premier League meetings against Leicester (W1, D2, L2)
- Leicester are winless in three previous Premier League visits to Forest (D1, L2).
- Forest are yet to concede at home to Leicester in any of their three previous Premier League meetings at the City Ground.
- Forest have scored in eight of nine league games at home this season (W3, D3, L3), with all three wins coming via 1-0 results.
- Leicester have scored first in each of their last seven league games away from home (W3, L4), during which they kept clean sheets in all three wins.
Prediction
Having rung the changes in both cup competitions in the last week and completely rested Taiwo Awoniyi in both games, I am interested to see what sort of Forest team is put out here especially after an excellent Carabao Cup performance against Wolves in midweek.
Steve Cooper’s Forest also won their last league outing at Southampton but it is crucial that they continue their improvements here, especially with the relegation zone still looming over their necks.
Leicester meanwhile were largely toothless in their end product in a lacklustre Carabao Cup defeat at Newcastle, so a huge improvement in attack is required here although they did defend well overall with a bit of luck otherwise they could of conceded more goals than they actually leaked.
The City Ground though has proven a tricky ground for Leicester in the past in the Premier League – plus it was here almost a year ago that they suffered a shock FA Cup defeat, so I do expect a difficult contest especially if Forest play like they did in midweek.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Leicester City
Result: Nottingham Forest 2-0 Leicester City
Leave a Reply