Nottingham Forest travel to the capital on Saturday where they will face 16th place Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium. Each team goes into this game as the foil of the other in terms of form with Nottingham Forest winning 3 of their last 5, only losing to Bournemouth amidst an unfortunate VAR error. Whereas Brentford are without a win in their last five, only securing a draw in the cup against Wolves.
The reverse fixture in early October saw Forest draw 1-1 on the banks of the Trent thanks to a glorious looping header from Dominguez, to secure the come back from a goal down with ten men after Niakhate received a second yellow card.
Both Forest and Brentford were held to a replay in the cup and also endured extra time with Brentford missing out on progression to the 4th round with Wolverhampton Wanderer’s Brazilian, Matheus Cunha’s 105th minute effort knocking them out of the competition. Whereas Forest went on to beat Blackpool 3-2 due to Chris Woods instinctive finish from close range in the 110th minute.
Nottingham Forest took the lead rather promptly with Murillo’s fierce header forcing a save from Grimshaw who could only put it out for a corner. The resulting corner was whipped in beautifully by Dominguez and met by Yates who rose to flick the ball back post to an on rushing Omobamidele who, on his debut, calmly slotted home with his left foot.
Forest’s second came shortly after the start of the second half, when, in the 46th minute, a poor back pass is pressed by Dominguez, forcing the ball to bounce off the goalkeeper and into the path of Danilo who took it in his stride and calmly slotted it in past a sprawling defender.
The Reds seemed to be cruising at 2-0 but found themselves pegged back by a wonder strike from Albie Morgan, who swung a boot on the edge of the area only to see the ball fly into the top left corner past an outstretched Vlachodimos in goal. Blackpool’s second came through good work down the left wing from Lyons, who beat Neco Williams to the byline and launched a floating cross to the back post where Joseph towered over Murillo to nod home past the Greek shotstopper.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side continued to search for a late winner but were let off themselves when, in the 96th minute, Blackpool winger Karamoko Dembele broke away amidst a counter attack and took it past Odysseus Vlachodimos, he seemed to have an open goal but Orel Mangala cleared off the line to hold on to 2-2 and force extra time.
Both teams were clearly fatigued throughout the first half of extra time with very little quality on show, despite slight glimpses of composure and finesse from Forest substitute Brandon Aguilera who continuously found space down the left wing. However the premier league quality and nouse prevailed as Forest worked the ball to Danilo in the box who performs an instinctive shift from right to left which teed up Yates who, approaching the bi-line, struck a low ball across the face of goal that was met by Chris Wood and converted from close range.
This result exaggerates Nuno’s view of the competition. In his pre match press conference the reds’ head coach stated “We have to go for the match, we have to win the match” and his team clearly mirrored his mindset.
Nottingham Forest’s injury list continues to increase.
Morgan Gibbs-White was absent from the match day squad against Blackpool and is reported to be out for “a couple of weeks” according to sources close to the club.
Elanga, Awoniyi, Felipe and Origi remain out and no reports have been made about their potential return to first team action. However there is progress with the injuries, with Awoniyi back on the training pitch after an extended stint off the grass.
Brentford who yesterday signed Sergio Reguillon from Spurs, also have a long lost of absentees, including the likes of Aaron Hickey, Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Nørgaard, Kevin Schade and Rico Henry.
However a player that isn’t amongst these absentees is fan favourite Ivan Toney who returns after an 8 month ban from all footballing activities. Despite his lengthy stint off the pitch Brentford manager Thomas Frank wants Ivan Toney involved within the match day squad for this Saturdays match against Nottingham Forest. With the head coach stating “My only focus is getting him ready for Nottingham Forest”.
Nottingham Forest will look to continue their 4 game unbeaten run and ruin the return of Ivan Toney. The match kicks off at 17:30 on Saturday.
*Article provided by Liam Salisbury (Football Correspondent).
*Main image @BrentfordFC Forest travel to Brentford’s Community Stadium for only the second ever time.
