Nottingham Forest play host to Coventry City on Wednesday evening looking for the victory which could move the club into the Championship playoff positions.
However, Coventry, who are in 11th spot, will move to within two points of their seventh-placed hosts if they can prevail at the City Ground.
Match preview
© Reuters
While Forest were naturally disappointed to push Liverpool so hard in the FA Cup quarter-finals without progressing further in the competition, Steve Cooper perhaps will not mind that his squad can focus on the promotion race.
For all of their eye-catching performances, there have been times when Forest have been inconsistent, but Saturday's 4-1 victory at Blackpool was their third Championship success in a row.
As many as 10 goals have been scored during that period, Brennan Johnson netting three of the five most recent strikes to take his tally for the campaign to 13.
At the other end of the pitch, Forest have conceded just three times in six matches, but they still only possess the 14th-best home record in the division.
Even though Forest remain outside of the playoff spots, possessing three matches in hand arguably puts Forest in a more favourable position than many of the clubs above them.
© Reuters
From Coventry's perspective, they are almost at the point of no return with regards to the playoffs having won just one of their last seven fixtures.
Although Mark Robins and his squad can be relatively satisfied with their efforts this campaign, their promotion bid has lost steam ahead of the run-in.
To their credit, they battled on gamely to earn a share of the spoils against Blackburn Rovers at the weekend, Viktor Gyokeres's equaliser coming deep into added-on time.
However, now sitting six points adrift of the playoffs, a point did not feel enough, and Robins realistically needs to encourage his side to go on the attack against one of their direct rivals.
- D
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- L
- W
- L
- D
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Barring any injury issues, Cooper may decide to stick with the Forest XI which ruthlessly dispatched of Blackpool at the weekend.
Goalkeeper Brice Samba was preferred to Ethan Horvath, who had been away on international duty, but Samba is expected to remain between the sticks.
Although Lewis Grabban is now back in contention after injury, the forward will only be selected among the replacements with Keinan Davis and Sam Surridge ahead of him in the pecking order.
With Jake Clarke-Salter potentially out for the season and Kyle McFadzean having not returned to training by the weekend, the Coventry XI may stay the same.
However, Ben Sheaf is an option either in defence or midfield if Robins wants to freshen up his side.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Samba; Worrall, Figueiredo, McKenna; Spence, Yates, Garner, Colback; Zinckernagel; Johnson, Davis
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Moore; Rose, Hyam, Bidwell; Dabo, Allen, Hamer, Maatsen; O'Hare; Gyokeres, Godden
We say: Nottingham Forest 3-1 Coventry City
Coventry have reached a point where they may as well push hard for all three points, something which should help the game as a spectacle. However, Forest remain one of the form teams in the division, and we expect the home side to make relatively light work of the Sky Blues.
Top tip
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Nottingham Forest win with a probability of 47.35%. A win for Coventry City had a probability of 26.76% and a draw had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nottingham Forest win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.21%) and 2-0 (8.71%). The likeliest Coventry City win was 0-1 (8.21%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.3%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 8.7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Nottingham Forest would win this match.
