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

Still on the hunt for their first Premier League success of the 2025-26 campaign, Wolverhampton Wanderers welcome Nottingham Forest to Molineux for an all-important clash on Wednesday night.

The hosts were arguably unlucky to lose Sunday's West Midlands derby at Aston Villa, whereas the Tricky Trees only had themselves to blame for a home loss to Brighton & Hove Albion.

Match preview

Despite the change of Vitor Pereira to Rob Edwards in the Wolves managerial hotseat, results are remaining the same for now, with Wednesday night's hosts losing back-to-back matches since the arrival of the fresh face, failing to score against both Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.

That being said, the Wanderers were keen to take plenty of encouragement from a respectable display last time out at Villa Park, where a wonder strike from Villans star Boubacar Kamara was required to snatch the points off the visitors.

In the midst of a seven-match winless run across top flight and EFL Cup action since the middle of October, Wolves are rooted to the very bottom of the Premier League standings on two points, nine points behind Nuno Espirito Santo's West Ham United in the safety of 17th.

Yet to enjoy the sweet taste of league success this term, the Black Country outfit will search for such a feeling for the first time at the 14th attempt on Wednesday, with the club last experiencing as bad a barren run in 2011-12, when they were relegated to the Championship.

Surely unwilling to settle for the title of a second-tier striker next calendar year, Jorgen Strand Larsen had a fine effort ruled out for offside in the Second City on the weekend, with the Norway international a beacon of hope for Edwards's strugglers.

Following the swift conclusion of their disastrous Ange Postecoglou experiment, Nottingham Forest have steadied their ship on both domestic and continental waters, losing just two of their eight competitive contests since the arrival of former academy man Sean Dyche as head coach.

The no-nonsense boss picked up his second, third and fourth victories as leaders of the Tricky Trees during a marvellous three-game winning run last month before ending November with a difficult afternoon on the banks of the River Trent against Brighton, losing 2-0 at the City Ground.

Collecting a commendable seven points from five top-flight battles since the appointment of ex-Burnley general Dyche, Nottingham Forest have jumped up to 16th place in the Premier League table ahead of a midweek jaunt across the Midlands, one point above Leeds United in the relegation zone.

Aside from a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth at the end of October, the Tricky Trees have been solid on their travels under the tutelage of the 54-year-old, recording consecutive clean sheets recently - one of which arrived during the three-goal humiliation of Liverpool at Anfield on November 22.

Facing a real fight on his hands to regain a place in the World Cup thoughts of England head coach Thomas Tuchel ahead of next summer, Morgan Gibbs-White has benefitted massively from Dyche's arrival, with the 25-year-old scoring in three of his last five Premier League appearances.

Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League form:

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Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

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Team News

Nursing his ankle injury in a protective boot, goalkeeper Daniel Bentley is out of consideration at the moment for Wolves.

Also occupying beds in the medical room, Matt Doherty (knee) and Rodrigo Gomes (groin) are not expected to feature on Wednesday.

Earning his first Premier League start under Edwards, Jhon Arias impressed at Villa Park and should retain his spot in the XI.

An injury list that plagued the reign of Postecoglou continues into the Dyche era, with the likes of Chris Wood (knee) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (strain) sidelined.

The Tricky Trees' options at the top end of the pitch are restricted further by the absence of Taiwo Awoniyi, who is expected back in the near future from a muscle problem.

Replaced during the half-time interval in the defeat to Brighton, wing pairing Dan Ndoye and Nicolas Dominguez are likely to drop to the bench.

Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Johnstone; Mosquera, Agbadou, T Gomes; Tchatchoua, Andre, G Gomes, Moller Wolfe; Arias, Bellegarde, Strand Larsen

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Sels; Savona, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams; Sangare, Anderson; Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Jesus

We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Nottingham Forest

After a valiant performance at Villa on the weekend, Wolves will be hopeful that Wednesday is the day that they can finally break their Premier League duck.

That being said, Forest are likely to be in mood to make amends following a poor loss to Brighton, with the visitors more than good enough to earn three points at Molineux.

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