Preview: Nottingham Forest vs Wolverhampton Wanderers - prediction, team news, lineups

Nottingham Forest will be aiming to give their Premier League survival hopes a boost when they welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to the City Ground on Wednesday night.

The hosts are 17th in the Premier League table, three points ahead of 18th-placed West Ham United, while Wolves are bottom, 18 points behind their opponents in this match.

Match preview

Forest will enter Wednesday's clash with Wolves off the back of a damaging result, going down 3-1 to Leeds United, with that result following a home draw against Crystal Palace.

Sean Dyche's side have a record of seven wins, five draws and 13 defeats from their 25 league matches this season, with 26 points leaving them down in 17th spot in the division, three points above 18th-placed West Ham, who will face Manchester United on Tuesday night.

Forest only have the 16th-best home record in the Premier League this term, picking up 12 points from 12 matches, but they will be welcoming a Wolves team with the worst away record in the division, claiming just three points from 12 games, failing to win in the process.

There is simply no downplaying the importance of this match to Forest when it comes to their survival hopes, but the Premier League is not their only focus this term.

Indeed, Dyche's team will take on Fenerbahce in the Europa League knockout round playoffs, with the first leg of their contest due to take place in Turkey on February 19.

As for Wolves, a record of one win, five draws and 19 defeats from 25 matches has left them rock bottom of the Premier League table on eight points, 18 points from the safety of 17th.

Unless something incredible happens, Wolves will play Championship football next season, and the club will be expecting to challenge for an automatic return to the Premier League, especially considering the business that they did during the January transfer window.

Rob Edwards' side will enter this match off the back of a 3-1 home defeat to Chelsea, and they have now lost each of their last three in England's top flight, with their only victory in the league this term coming against West Ham at the start of January.

Wolves are winless in their last seven matches with Forest in all competitions, including a 1-0 reverse in their clash at Molineux earlier this season.

The division's basement side have not won a league fixture at the City Ground since a Championship clash in September 2017, meanwhile, demonstrating the size of the away side's task on Wednesday night.

Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

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Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):

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Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League form:

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Wolverhampton Wanderers form (all competitions):

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Team News

Forest are hopeful that key defender Murillo will return from a calf injury in time for Wednesday's match, while Neco Williams will also be back from suspension.

Matz Sels faces a late fitness test on a hip issue, which is causing him pain, while John Victor, Chris Wood and Nicolo Savona are definitely out of the fixture.

Elliot Anderson, who continues to be linked with a big-money exit, will feature in central midfield, while Lorenzo Lucca could be handed his full debut at centre-forward, fresh from scoring his first goal for Forest in the defeat to Leeds last time out.

As for Wolves, Hwang Hee-chan suffered a hamstring injury against Chelsea on Saturday and is now facing a spell on the sidelines.

Toti Gomes remains out with a thigh injury, but the visitors are hopeful that Andre will recover from a calf injury to allow him to feature in central midfield.

Angel Gomes could be moved into a wide area due to the absence of Hee-chan, while there will be another start for Mateus Mane, who has drawn the attention of a number of major clubs with his performances for Wolves since breaking into the first team.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Ortega; Aina, Murillo, Milenkovic, Williams; Anderson, Sangare; Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Dominguez; Lucca

Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Sa; Doherty, Mosquera, S Bueno, H Bueno; J Gomes, Andre; A Gomes, Armstrong, Mane; Arokodare

We say: Nottingham Forest 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

This is a massive, massive football match.

Wolves are, of course, capable of picking up a positive result here, and we are expecting it to be very tight in terms of the scoreline, but Forest should be able to navigate their way to a very important three points in front of their own supporters.

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