Nottingham Forest meet Leeds United in an opening weekend clash as both clubs seek to start the 2026-27 Premier League season on a positive note.
Having finished 16th and 14th respectively last season, Forest and Leeds will both look to begin this campaign on the front foot and avoid another scrap for survival.
Team News
Forest will be without Nicolo Savona (knee) and Ryan Yates (knock) until early autumn.
Leeds could hand competitive debuts to new signings; Harry Wilson, Tarik Muharemovic, James Trafford and Nico Elvedi.
Lucas Perri (quad), Wilfried Gnonto, Gabriel Gudmundsson (both hamstring) and Ilia Gruev (knee) are sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Forest host Leeds at the City Ground on Saturday 22 August at 3pm BST, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Forest have lost three of their last five Premier League meetings against Leeds (W2, L3).
- Leeds are yet to claim a Premier League victory away at Forest (D3, L4).
- Both meetings between Forest and Leeds last season ended in 3-1 victories for the team playing at home.
- Forest have lost one of their last 10 league matches (W4, D5, L1), across which they only kept three clean sheets.
- Leeds have won just one of their last nine away top-flight matches (W1, D6, L2).
Prediction
With Palace’s UEFA Conference League title-winning manager – Oliver Glasner now in charge, Forest hopefully can find their 2024-25 spark again because last season was just a defensive shambles really despite their attacking quality, but patience will be needed in adapting to his style.
Leeds meanwhile have done well to keep their key players and add genuine quality signings but they now need to kick on because their FA Cup run last season showed signs of their potential, so I now want to see that quality consistently on display in the league and fight for a mid-table finish.
There however is the added edge of both teams meeting again here in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening so I don’t see neither Glasner and Farke wanting to show too much of their hands here, so a draw feels like the right call.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Leeds
Result: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Leeds