Nottingham Forest begin their 2025-26 Premier League season at home to Brentford.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s Tricky Trees will seek to build upon their seventh-placed league finish of last season, whilst Brentford begin life under Keith Andrews after Thomas Frank left the club for Tottenham in June.
Team News
Forest have no fresh injury concerns to report with only Nicolas Dominguez ruled out as he recovers from leg surgery.
Brentford could be without debutant, Caoimhin Kelleher after he missed their 2-2 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach with a knock.
The Irish goalkeeper plus Kevin Schade (knock) are both back training but will face late fitness checks.
Gustavo Nunes (hamstring), Vitaly Janelt (heel), Ethan Pinnock and Paris Maghoma (both unspecified) are ruled out.
Yoane Wissa will also miss the game as he nears a move to Newcastle.
When is Kick-Off?
Forest host Brentford at the City Ground on Sunday 17 August at 2pm BST, live on Sky Sports Premier League in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Forest have won just one of six previous Premier League meetings against Brentford (W1, D2, L3)
- Brentford have avoided defeat in their three previous Premier League visits to Forest (W1, D2).
- Last season saw both teams take a 2-0 win apiece when playing away at one another’s stadiums.
- Forest scored just one goal in pre-season (D5, L2), during which they drew 0-0 in each of their five draws.
- Brentford avoided defeat in their three senior pre-season friendlies (W1, D2).
Prediction
Although their pre-season numbers don’t make for the most exceptional reading compared to their high standards of last season, Forest should still have a strong season given that they are adapting on the right flank following Anthony Elanga’s move to Newcastle which will hurt them in pace early on.
Brentford meanwhile have had a tough summer with the loss of Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Norgaard and pending exit of Yoane Wissa plus Thomas Frank’s departure as manager, but Andrews will bring continuity which looked evident from their short pre-season yet they have to replace two huge goalscoring losses.
Although it is easy to expect Schade to simply step up along with Igor Thiago, it is a tough ask to rely on him whilst new attacking signings adapt and the team find a new spark, so these early weeks will be about survival in terms of points gathering before kicking on once up to speed.
I however do expect Brentford to still cause huge issues for Forest given that both teams are going through different adaption periods, so a draw might look like a fair call.
Prediction: Forest 1-1 Brentford
Result: Forest 3-1 Brentford
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