Preview: Nottingham Forest vs Bournemouth - prediction, team news, lineups

Andoni Iraola will take charge of Bournemouth for the final time when the Cherries travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest in their last Premier League fixture of the 2025-26 campaign on Sunday afternoon.

While the Tricky Trees have already secured their top-flight status for another season, Bournemouth are still in contention to qualify for the Champions League.

Match preview

Bournemouth have been one of the surprise packages in the Premier League this season and they secured European football for the first time in the club’s 127-year history following a 1-1 home draw with Manchester City on Tuesday night.

The Cherries were on the cusp of collecting maximum points until Erling Haaland scored a 95th-minute equaliser to snatch a draw for the Citizens. The result means that Iraola’s side, in sixth spot in the table, sit three points behind Liverpool in fifth place heading into the final weekend.

Even if Bournemouth miss out on a top-five finish, sixth position could still secure Champions League football for next season, but only if Liverpool beat Brentford and Europa League winners Aston Villa drop down from fourth to fifth with a defeat against Man City.

Champions League or Europa League qualification still represents an incredible achievement for the Cherries, who are enjoying a club-record 17-game unbeaten league run (W8 D9) – only Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich (19) currently boast a longer undefeated streak across Europe’s top-five divisions.

Bournemouth, who last tasted defeat on January 3 against champions Arsenal (3-2), have won three of their last four visits to the City Ground and they are looking to complete just their second league double over Nottingham Forest after winning the reverse fixture 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium in October last year.

Nottingham Forest’s eight-game unbeaten run in the Premier League came to an end last weekend when they suffered a 3-2 defeat away against Manchester United in a contest overshadowed by a controversial Red Devils goal that PGMO admit should have been disallowed for a handball from Bryan Mbeumo.

Fortunately for Forest, their top-flight status was secured a week earlier, a few days after their Europa League semi-final exit at the hands of eventual champions Aston Villa. They now sit 16th in the Premier League table and seven points above the bottom three heading into the final weekend.

Forest, who can only finish as high as 15th with a win over Bournemouth, are reportedly keen to offer head coach Vitor Pereira a new contract having been impressed by the Portuguese’s impact at the club since replacing Sean Dyche in February – a total of 16 points have been accumulated across 11 league games under Pereira (W4 D4 L3).

Pereira has certainly helped Forest pose a greater threat in the final third in recent weeks, as his team have scored 19 goals in their last seven Premier League matches, one more than they had netted in their previous 19 games between November and March (18). In five of those games, Forest have scored at least two goals.

The Tricky Trees enter Sunday’s contest with Bournemouth winless in all seven of their Premier League meetings (D3 L4), the most games they have faced an opponent without ever winning in the division. They have also won their final league fixture in only one of the last six seasons (D2 L3), beating relegated Burnley 2-1 in the 2023-24 campaign.

Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):

Bournemouth Premier League form:

Team News

Nottingham Forest defender Murillo (hamstring) is yet to return to training and will remain in the treatment room along with Callum Hudson-Odoi (hamstring), Nicolo Savona (knee) and Willy Boly (knee).

However, Pereira has revealed that right-back Ola Aina and winger Dan Ndoye have taking part in training this week and could therefore feature in the matchday squad, pending a late fitness test

In-demand Elliot Anderson, who provided two assists in the defeat at Man Utd last time out, may play his final game for Forest if he is to be sold in the summer, while Morgan Gibbs-White could join him in midfield; he has contributed to 10 goals (eight goals, two assists) in his last nine league appearances.

As for Bournemouth, Ryan Christie will served the second of a three-games suspension, while Alex Jimenez remains unavailable as the club continue to investigate social media posts involving the Spaniard that surfaced earlier this month.

Iraola could name an unchanged starting lineup, with Marcos Senesi expected to make his final appearance for the Cherries before leaving in the summer, joining James Hill, Adam Smith and Adrien Truffert in a four-man defence.

Eli Junior Kroupi has scored a team-high 13 Premier League goals this season, netting five of those in his last seven appearances, and the 19-year-old could become just the third Bournemouth player to reach the 15-goal in the top flight after Dominic Solanke (19) and Joshua King (16), if he scores at least twice against Forest.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Morato, Netz; Bakwa, Yates, Anderson, Gibbs-White; Jesus, Awoniyi

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Petrovic; Smith, Hill, Senesi, Truffert; Adams, Scott; Rayan, Kroupi, Tavernier; Evanilson

We say: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Bournemouth

Nottingham Forest newly-potent attack has the potential to pose a serious threat to Bournemouth’s backline, but the Cherries will back themselves to keep the Tricky Trees quiet, as they boast the best defensive away record among Premier League clubs in 2026, conceding just five goals.

Iraola’s in-form side have remarkably drawn 17 games in the Premier League this season, the joint-most of any team in a 38-game season, but we are backing the South Coast club to produce another stellar performance and claim all three points to keep their historic Champions League dream alive.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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