Four pundits have had their say on Nottingham Forest’s Premier League clash against Brentford, with two in disagreement with the other three.
Forest host Brentford at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon as both teams are looking to take all three points from the game after defeats in their last outings in the Premier League. Forest lost 2-0 against last season’s treble winners Man City, while Brentford fell to a 3-1 loss vs Everton.
Ahead of the game there is just one position and one point separating the two teams in the table. So it’s perhaps no surprise that there is variation in the predictions.
Chris Sutton is backing both teams to score , but for the points to be shared: “Brentford really need to bounce back after their poor performance against Everton last weekend,” he wrote in his BBC Sport column.
“That display was very unlike them, but maybe this is the season where they have a little bit of a dip in form. Nottingham Forest did well at home last season and are still unbeaten in the league at the City Ground in this campaign too.
“Even so, they are probably not clinical enough for me to back them here. This has got all the makings of a 1-1 draw, hasn’t it? That’s what it smells like to me anyway, so I am sitting on the fence.”
Sutton’s prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Brentford .
It’s a similar prediction from former Arsenal man Paul Merson : “Neither of these two sides has been particularly impressive in recent weeks, indicating that we could see an evenly-matched contest,” he told Sportskeeda.
“Brentford look like they are there for the taking, so Forest will look to make home advantage count to secure a positive result.
“The Bees could get dragged into a relegation battle in the coming weeks as they’ve just won one game so far in the Premier League . In Ivan Toney’s absence, Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo have shown flashes of brilliance, but they need an out-and-out striker to regularly put the ball into the back of the net.”
Merson’s prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Brentford.
Former Premier League manager Harry Redknapp is backing Forest to take all three points from the game: “Difficult one to predict. Forest have had some tough fixtures of late, but they’ve given a good account of themselves and should have another decent season,” he told BetVictor .”They’ve competed well in every game this season and have a good home record.
“Brentford are going through a difficult spell at the minute. They’ve had some injuries and the squad is really getting stretched. They’ve got a good manager though; they’ll turn things around.
“I’m picking Forest though. It’s not an easy ground to go to and I think they’ll edge an even game”.
Redknapp’s prediction: Nottingham Forest 2-1 Brentford
While former Liverpool man Mark Lawrenson is expecting the reverse result : “I fancy Brentford,” he told PaddyPower . “They’ve just had a little bit of a hiccup but I’ll say it’s a rejuvenated Brentford to Win.”
Lawrenson’s prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Brentford