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Securing a famous win over Liverpool with a clean sheet in tow had seemingly set Nottingham Forest up well for a trip to the Emirates, especially with Arsenal struggling to assert their dominance in recent matches and coming into the game on the back of defeat to PSV Eindhoven.
However, the league leaders proved to be a class above Nottingham Forest on the day, as Cooper’s side succumbed to a Reiss Nelson brace alongside strikes from Gabriel Martinelli, Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard in a 5-0 Emirates mauling.
The Tricky Trees had started to demonstrate a more resilient defensive streak in recent weeks, but that counted for nought at the home of the league leaders, and they remain at the bottom of the division after 12 matches, picking up a mere nine points so far.
Cooper’s side are the only team in the Premier League yet to hit double figures in points this season, and they unsurprisingly possess the worst goal difference of -20 – to date, only one club from six to have had as bad a goal difference as that after 13 games has avoided relegation.
The Tricky Trees should take some encouragement from the fact that seven of their nine points this season have been won at the City Ground, where they have avoided defeat in each of their last two games, and Brentford will have to cope without their star striker this weekend
Forget the new manager bounce, the new interim manager bounce was in full swing when Brentford visited an Aston Villa side fresh from giving Steven Gerrard the boot, as Aaron Danks took charge for the first of his only two games before stepping aside for Unai Emery.
Thomas Frank‘s side sought to recover from that 4-0 drubbing when they hosted a profligate Wolverhampton Wanderers side, and it was a game of two spectacular strikes last weekend, as Ben Mee‘s acrobatic effort was cancelled out by a clinical Ruben Neves finish.
Brentford established themselves as a solid Premier League outfit in their debut season, and despite winning just one of their last seven games during a sticky spell of form, the Bees are still sitting pretty in 11th in the rankings, with four points separating them from both the top seven and relegation zone.
The Bees now travel north aiming to snap a three-game winless run in the top flight, but Ivan Toney‘s suspension will not aid them in that regard, and the visitors are one of six sides yet to win away from home in the Premier League this term – losing each of their last two.
Brentford claimed a 3-1 success at the City Ground in December 2020 en route to the Premier League, but Forest held the Bees to a 1-1 draw just a few months later, and rediscovering a winning habit at home would not go amiss for the basement side this weekend.
Nottingham Forest did not pick up any fresh injury woes to add to insult at the Emirates, leaving Moussa Niakhate (thigh), Jack Colback (back), Harry Toffolo (hamstring) and Omar Richards (thigh) out of contention, but Giulian Biancone has since been ruled out for the season with an ACL injury sustained in training.
Lewis O’Brien returned from a particularly nasty illness at the Emirates and may now be considered for a start by Cooper, who should not shy away from freshening things up after their humbling North London experience.
Jesse Lingard missed a gilt-edged chance last weekend after being handed the ball on a plate by Gabriel Magalhaes and will be pushed all the way by Brennan Johnson, while Neco Williams and Orel Mangala will also be vying to return to the setup.
As mentioned, Brentford talisman Toney will miss out here after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the draw with Wolves, so Frank is facing a quandary in the final third here.
Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo could simply form a two-man strike partnership, but Keane Lewis-Potter and Mikkel Damsgaard are both candidates to start on the left if Frank wants to continue with a three-man attack.
Mathias Jensen came off with a dead leg in the draw with Wolves but should be fine here, and Christian Norgaard‘s Achilles problem might let up in time for the weekend as well, but Thomas Strakosha (ankle), Pontus Jansson (thigh) and Aaron Hickey (ankle) are all absent.
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Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Aurier, Cook, McKenna, Williams; Yates, Mangala, Freuler; Johnson, Awoniyi, Gibbs-White
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Raya; Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock; Rasmussen, Jensen, Janelt, Dasilva, Henry; Mbeumo, Wissa
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- This is their first top-flight meeting.
- Brentford have won five of their past seven away league games against Forest.
Nottingham Forest
- Both of Forest’s league wins this season have been at home by a 1-0 scoreline courtesy of a Taiwo Awoniyi goal, versus West Ham and Liverpool.
- They have opened the scoring in five of their six Premier League home fixtures this campaign.
- No side has had fewer shots on target in the Premier League this season than Forest’s tally of 36.
Brentford
- Brentford are winless in all six Premier League away matches this season (D3, L3).
- The Bees have only kept a clean sheet once in their last 22 away games, conceding 49 goals.
- Brentford have scored four goals in their past seven league fixtures, after managing 15 in their opening six games of the season.
- Thomas Frank’s Brentford defeated Steve Cooper’s Swansea City in the Championship play-off semi-final in 2019-20 and the final in 2020-21.
Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper questioned his side’s competitive edge after they were thumped by Arsenal last weekend.
That is a bit of a worry – surely part of his job is to make sure his players are properly motivated.
Off the back of Forest beating Liverpool in their last game at the City Ground, I would have gone for another home win here, but after what happened against the Gunners I am not so sure.
Brentford have not won away in the Premier League all season, so that hardly makes me think they are going to take home three points either – it is a massive cop-out but I am going for a draw.