Sunderland vs. Nottingham Forest: Head-to-head record and past meetings

Nottingham Forest travelled to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland in the Premier League on Friday night, with the Tricky Trees securing a stunning result to significantly strengthen their top-flight survival hopes.

Vitor Pereira's side scored four in a scintillating first 45 minutes before adding another in stoppage time of the second to run out phenomenal 5-0 winners, extending their lead over 18th-placed Tottenham Hotspur to a considerable eight points.

Here, Sports Mole looks at the head-to-head record and past meetings between the two sides.

Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 99

Nottingham Forest wins: 34

Draws: 24

Sunderland wins: 41

Nottingham Forest and Sunderland have faced each other a total of 99 times across all competitions, with the Black Cats leading the overall head-to-head record having posted 41 wins to the Tricky Trees' 34, while 24 draws have been played out between the two clubs.

February 1891 was the very first time hat these two teams butted heads in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, with Sunderland claiming an emphatic 4-0 win on home soil.

The Black Cats also won their first four league meetings with Forest - all in the old Division One - before the Tricky Trees celebrated their first ever victory (2-1) over the North East outfit in December 1894.

Both Forest and Sunderland had their fair share of successes during their regular encounters in Divisions One and Two over the years, and the biggest victory to date between these two teams was recorded in March 1908 when the latter thrashed the former 7-2 on their own turf in Division One.

In the Premier League era (since 1992-93), Forest and Sunderland have only ever faced each other four times in the top flight - first meeting during the 1996-97 season, when the Tricky Trees suffered a 4-1 home defeat to the Black Cats before drawing 1-1 on the road.

Both teams went on to lock horns eight times across the Championship and League One before coming together once again in the Premier League; Sunderland accumulated seven points across four League One encounters (W2 D1 L1) and also won three of their four second-tier meetings, doing the double over Forest in the 2004-05 season before losing 1-0 at home and winning 1-0 away in the 2017-18 campaign.

The two eventually encountered each other in the Premier League once again in 2025-26, with Sunderland claiming a narrow 1-0 win at the City Ground in September 2025 before suffering a humiliating 5-0 loss at the Stadium of Light in April 2026.

Outside of league football, Forest and Sunderland have played against each other six times in the FA Cup, with the Tricky Trees coming out on top in four of those ties (D1 L1), while the Black Cats have drawn one and won two of their three League Cup clashes.