Nottingham Forest head out to the Netherlands looking to give their Europa League last-16 hopes a proper lift when they meet FC Utrecht at Stadion Galgenwaard on Thursday night.
Both sides, honestly, are trying to shake off a bit of weekend frustration; Forest were beaten at Everton, while Utrecht had to settle for just a 1-1 draw against FC Twente.
Nottingham Forest posted photos of their players preparing for the game via their official X account.
View the post below:
Softfootball understands that Forest had a strong patch in November, recording a 3-0 victory against Liverpool in the Premier League and a 3-0 win against Malmo in the Europa League, but things haven’t flowed the same lately.
Nottingham Forest, recording two losses in their last three Premier League matches, have dragged them down to 17th, only two points above the drop zone.
Their away form isn’t exactly encouraging, recording only two wins in 11 away games this season, but Forest have looked more steady in Europe.
They’re still unbeaten under Dyche in the competition, and, quite surprisingly, they haven’t conceded a goal since he arrived. With eight points from their first five Europa League fixtures, they’re still right in the mix and sitting 16th out of 36 teams.
Utrecht’s story is almost the opposite. Playing in their first Europa League campaign in 14 years, they just haven’t found their feet. No wins from five matches with one draw and four defeats have left them 32nd in the standings and five points away from the playoff spots.
They haven’t won a major European game since 2004, that’s a long run for any club, never mind one from the Netherlands.
But at home, things do look a bit different for them. Utrecht are unbeaten in their last six matches at Stadion Galgenwaard, and that’s something they’ll hang onto going into this one.
Team News
FC Utrecht will be missing Davy van den Berg, while Victor Jensen, Noah Ohio, Emirhan Demircan and Kolbeinn Finnsson can’t play because they weren’t included in the Europa League squad.
Goalkeeper Barkas Vasileios is back from suspension and should return to the starting lineup. Souffian El Karouani played the full match against Twente and looks fine to keep his place at left-back.
Nottingham Forest continue to miss quite a long list of players: Ola Aina, Douglas Luiz, Taiwo Awoniyi, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Dilane Bakwa, Chris Wood and Angus Gunn are all injured.
Kalimuendo (Photo Credit: Nottingham Forest via X)
Ryan Yates came off just minutes after coming on at Everton and isn’t expected to feature. That likely puts Nicolas Dominguez next to Ibrahim Sangare in midfield again.
Defender Murillo is still a doubt because of a hamstring issue and a bit of illness, so Morato should stay alongside Nikola Milenkovic.
Possible Lineups
FC Utrecht
Barkas; Horemans, Van de Hoorn, Viergever, El Karouani; Bozdogan, Ongena, De Wit; Rodriguez, Min, Cathline
Nottingham Forest
Victor; Abbott, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams; Dominguez, Sangare; Ndoye, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi; Kalimuend
Softfootball’s Prediction
With Utrecht struggling badly in Europe and Forest looking fairly solid defensively in this competition, it feels like the visitors should edge things here. It might not be the most dramatic match ever, but Forest should have enough quality to get the job done.
Prediction: Utrecht 0–2 Nottingham Forest
