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In Friday’s Premier League match, Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper hopes to take a significant scalp against a revitalised Tottenham Hotspur after buying himself a little more time in the City Ground dugout.
Last time out, the Tricky Trees battled to a 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers to halt their losing record, while Spurs defeated Newcastle United 4-1 to get back to winning ways.
With a disappointing performance at Molineux over the weekend, Forest head coach Cooper—one of many names that had been connected to the Tottenham position prior to Ange Postecoglou signing on the dotted line—was predicted to become the Premier League’s second managerial casualty of the campaign.
After their midweek horror show against Fulham, where the Forest supporters continued to chant Cooper’s name in a 5-0 demolition, Tricky Trees owner Evangelos Marinakis decided against taking a gamble. His decision was partially justified as Friday’s hosts came home with a creditable share of the spoils.
Cooper made numerous changes from the team that was destroyed at Craven Cottage, and he watched as Harry Toffolo scored the first goal after 14 minutes. Although Matheus Cunha’s reply cost the visitors a valuable victory, the turnaround from their humiliation throughout the week was striking.
Cooper takes Forest into their Friday match with the Tricky Trees in 16th place in the Premier League, five points clear of Luton Town in 18th place and just a point or two behind an increasingly dysfunctional Crystal Palace. The team has avoided a potentially lethal fifth straight loss.
But following an eight-game unbeaten streak at the City Ground from April to November, Forest lost their first two Premier League home games to Brighton & Hove Albion and Everton. The 1-0 loss to the latter was only the team’s third scoreless home game in the top flight since the beginning of the previous campaign.
The other two City Ground matches in which Forest failed to score came against Tottenham in August 2022. In that match, the Lilywhites took the lead and went on to win 2-0, something they had not done in any of their previous five Premier League games prior to Newcastle’s visit this coming weekend.
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Postecoglou, who was also humiliated by West Ham United over the midweek, went from setting records early in the season to creating unwelcome history when Tottenham became the first team to score first in five straight Premier League games without winning any of them.
But such weaknesses were not evident in Sunday’s match against another injury-plagued team, Newcastle, who lost to Richarlison twice, Destiny Udogie for Spurs’ first goal, and Son Heung-min for his tenth goal of the year from the penalty spot before Joelinton at least erased the Lilywhites’ shutout.
After a terrifying few weeks, Tottenham is back to normal. They are currently in fifth place and outsiders in the Champions League, but they can catch up to Manchester City with a win over Nottingham Forest. The visitors haven’t kept a clean sheet in seven games, despite Joelinton’s late rally over the weekend.
Only three of Spurs’ twelve Premier League games on Fridays have resulted in wins. However, the Lilywhites defeated Nottingham Forest 5-1 overall in the 2022–2023 Premier League season, even though Cooper’s team eliminated them from the EFL Cup in the third round.
Nottingham Forest Premier League form:
W L L L L D
Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:
L L L D L W
One of the home team’s best players this season, Forest center back Murillo, carefully hobbled off the pitch against Wolves with 12 minutes remaining at Molineux. It is thought that the Brazilian had been dealing with a tight hamstring.
The supporters of Forest are eager to learn more about Murillo’s health, but Taiwo Awoniyi (groin) and former Tottenham full-back Serge Aurier (calf) will undoubtedly be absent. Felipe, a fellow countryman, is a like-for-like alternative.
With Felipe possibly starting in place of the injured Murillo, Forest’s head coach Cooper shouldn’t see any reason to break up the peace following a solid point at Molineux. Chris Wood will have to watch from the bench once more as Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White work together in the closing third.
In addition, following a near-perfect evening against Newcastle, no more Tottenham players entered the treatment room. Only long-term absentees Rodrigo Bentancur, Ashley Phillips, Micky van de Ven, James Maddison, and Ryan Sessegnon, as well as Manor Solomon, Ivan Perisic, and Alfie Whiteman, are still out.
Ben Davies should once again fill in alongside Cristian Romero, who was only given a yellow card for another reckless challenge on Callum Wilson on Sunday. Eric Dier should be the first person out of the medical bay on the conveyor belt, but it might take him another week or two to recover completely from his groin injury.
Postecoglou’s choice to switch Son to the left and insert Richarlison back into the attack proved to be a brilliant one against Newcastle. Richarlison, who just scored his first Premier League goal with his feet for Tottenham, deserves to stay in a central role.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Turner; Boly, Niakhate, Felipe; Williams, Kouyate, Yates, Mangala, Toffolo; Gibbs-White, Elanga
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Porro, Romero, Davies, Udogie; Sarr, Bissouma; Johnson, Kulusevski, Son; Richarlison
Our Prediction 3-0 won or 3-1 won by Tottenham Hotspur
