Preview: Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United - prediction, team news, lineups

Nottingham Forest will face Leeds United for the second time in five days when the two sides meet at the City Ground in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night.

The Tricky Trees began the brand-new 2026-27 Premier League campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Leeds last Saturday, and they will now be aiming to avenge that loss and avoid an early exit from the cup competition.

Match preview

Oliver Glasner's reign at Nottingham Forest did not get off to the start he would have wished for, with his side suffering a late defeat to visiting Leeds United in their Premier League opener.

It was an evenly contested encounter at the City Ground, with both sides relying heavily on set pieces, before the Whites finally found a breakthrough as Anton Stach struck the winner from a free kick with just two minutes remaining.

Glasner, who replaced Vitor Pereira, arrives with considerable European pedigree after guiding Crystal Palace to Conference League glory last season, but he will need time to mould the squad in his own image.

Forest defeated the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Brest during pre-season, and Glasner will be keen to win over the City Ground faithful with positive results, particularly on home soil.

Glasner is already the fifth Forest manager in less than a year, and while he possesses more than enough ability to bring stability to the club, it remains to be seen whether trigger-happy owner Evangelos Marinakis will show patience should the early results fail to go their way.

Leeds enjoyed an impressive return to the Premier League last season, finishing 14th with 47 points and ending the campaign just five points behind 10th-placed Chelsea.

The Whites have been down this road before, and the big question now is whether they have learned from past experience and found a way to navigate the dreaded second-season syndrome.

The Yorkshire club have made several shrewd additions over the summer, with goalkeeper James Trafford, centre-backs Nico Elvedi and Tarik Muharemovic expected to help shore up a defence that conceded 56 goals last term.

The opening-day victory over Forest will have provided a timely confidence boost, with Daniel Farke particularly pleased to see his side keep a clean sheet while frustrating their opponents for long periods.

Leeds have also won four of their last five meetings with Forest, and Farke will see little reason to relinquish that recent dominance as the Whites look to make another winning start to the campaign.

Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):

Leeds United form (all competitions):

Team News

Glasner is currently without Nicolo Savona and Ryan Yates due to injury, but otherwise has a strong squad at his disposal as Forest prepare for their EFL Cup opener.

The competition offers the new Forest boss an ideal opportunity to assess his squad depth, and he is expected to make a raft of changes from the side that started their previous game.

John Victor is likely to get the nod between the posts, while summer signing Ousmane Diomande, who joined from Sporting Lisbon, could make his Forest debut.

Leeds are without several key attacking options, with Wilfried Gnonto, Noah Okafor and Mateo Joseph all unavailable, the latter continuing his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Ilia Gruev remains sidelined with a knee problem, while left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson may be spared after missing the opening game with a thigh injury.

Farke could nevertheless shuffle his pack, with Dan James, Sean Longstaff, Sam Byram and Largie Ramazani all in contention for a place in the starting XI.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Victor; Abott, Diomande, Murillo; Aina, Schlager, Dominguez, Netz; Hutchison, Hudson-Odoi; Wood

Leeds United possible starting lineup:

Trafford; Elvedi, Bijol, Muharemovic; Justin, Byram, Stach, Longstaff; Ramazani, James; Nmecha

We say: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Leeds United

Forest will be determined to respond after suffering a late defeat to Leeds in the Premier League opener, and home advantage should ensure they make this another closely fought encounter at the City Ground.

However, Leeds have the better recent record in this fixture and will take confidence from their disciplined opening-day display, so we expect Farke's side to edge another tight contest and progress to the next round.

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