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

Two Premier League teams seeking to return to winning ways square off at the City Ground on Saturday evening as Nottingham Forest play host to Sunderland.

This fixture represents the first top-flight meeting between the two clubs since 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.

Match preview

Since the dismissal of Nuno Espirito Santo just under three weeks ago, Nottingham Forest have failed to win any of their first four matches across all competitions under the tutelage of new head coach Ange Postecoglou whose appointment has received mixed reviews from the club’s fanbase.

Back-to-back defeats to Arsenal (3-0) and Swansea City (3-2), the latter in the EFL Cup, have been followed by successive draws, with the Tricky Trees settling for a 1-1 draw with Burnley in the Premier League shortly before sharing the spoils with Real Betis in the Europa League on Wednesday.

Forest were leading 2-1 heading into the final five minutes of their opening League Phase fixture in Spain, courtesy of a brace from new signing Igor Jesus, but ex-Manchester United winger Antony scored a late equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw denied the Tricky Trees a triumphant return to European football after a 30-year hiatus.

Postecoglou, who won the Europa League with Tottenham last season, is the first permanent Forest manager since Billy Walker back in 1946 to endure a four-game winless streak at the start of his tenure, but the Greek-Australian has insisted that there is “plenty to be positive about and the wins will come."

Forest will return to the City Ground this weekend for Postecoglou’s first home game in charge; they have lost four of their last six Premier League home fixture (W1 D1), including a 3-0 defeat to West Ham last time out, which is as many defeats as they had suffered in their previous 20 in front of their own fans (W10 D6).

Last season’s Championship playoff winners Sunderland have made the best start of the three newly-promoted teams in the Premier League this season, accumulating eight points from the opening five games in comparison to Leeds United (seven) and Burnley (four).

The Black Cats have put together a three-game unbeaten run in the top flight, with a 2-1 victory over Brentford followed by back-to-back draws with Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, collecting a point in a 1-1 draw with the latter despite playing for over an hour with 10 men.

Reinildo Mandava was sent off for kicking out at Matty Cash, who opened the scoring for Villa midway through the second half, but Wilson Isidor came to the rescue once again and netted a 75th-minute equaliser - his third Premier League goal of the season which is the most scored by a Black Cats’ player in the club's first five games of a top-flight campaign since Steven Fletcher in 2012-13 (five).

Sitting seventh in the table and just two points behind second place, Regis Le Bris’ side are one of just two Premier League teams who are yet to score in the first half of their matches this term, along with Aston Villa, but only champions Liverpool (seven) have netted more goals in the second half of games than Sunderland (six).

The Black Cats are now preparing for their first league encounter with Nottingham Forest since a 1-0 Championship victory in December 2017 under former boss Chris Coleman, and they have reason to be optimistic of success on Saturday, as they have won five of their last seven league meetings with The Tricky Trees (L2).

Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

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Sunderland Premier League form:

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Team News

Nottingham Forest midfielder Douglas Luiz is unavailable for selection and has been sent for a scan on a hamstring injury sustained in the midweek draw with Real Betis. Morgan Gibbs-White could therefore move into a central midfield role alongside Ibrahim Sangare and in-form Elliot Anderson.

Ola Aina remains sidelined with a hamstring injury of his own, while key defender Murillo has missed the last three matches with an ankle problem and will be assessed ahead of kickoff this weekend.

Jesus will hope to retain his starting spot and make his full PL debut after netting a brace in midweek, but Chris Wood has started every PL game so far this season and is likely to earn a recall this weekend, even though he is without a goal in his last four appearances.

As for Sunderland, club-record signing Habib Diarra is ruled out until December after undergoing groin surgery and he is joined in the treatment room by Romaine Mundle (hamstring), Dennis Cirkin (wrist), Aji Alese (shoulder) and Leo Hjelde (Achilles), but Luke O’Nien (shoulder) is back in contention.

Reinildo begins a three-match ban following his red card last weekend and Arthur Masuaku is the most likely candidate to deputise at left-back, while Le Bris will weigh up whether to recall Daniel Ballard to his backline or continue with centre-back pairing Omar Alderete and Nordi Mukiele, the latter is also an option to start at right-back ahead of Trai Hume.

In the absence of Diarra, either Chris Rigg or Enzo Le Fee could start in midfield alongside Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki, and if the latter is preferred, that would open the door for Simon Adingra to join Chemsdine Talbi and Isidor in attack.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Zinchenko; Sangare, Anderson; Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood

Sunderland possible starting lineup:

Roefs; Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete, Masuaku; Rigg, Xhaka, Sadiki; Talbi, Isidor, Le Fee

We say: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Sunderland

Some will argue that Postecoglou is already under an element of pressure to claim a positive result this weekend in what many will deem is a favourable-looking home fixture for Forest against a newly-promoted side, but Sunderland have shown early doors that they are more than capable of competing in the Premier League.

The Black Cats have looked strong as a collective in recent weeks, while Forest are still getting used to Postecoglou’s demands, so a tight contest that may end up all square could be in store at the City Ground.

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