England Premier League
Saturday 17th February 2024
Kick off at 3pm GMT
Venue: City Ground
Match Preview:
The worry for Nottingham Forest is that the new manager effect has already evaporated and the club who remain well in danger of being sucked into the relegation zone have gone their last four games without a win, three of those have been defeats. Forest did battle in their last home game which ended up being a 3-2 loss against Newcastle and they have drawn against Bournemouth and lost to Arsenal in recent games too.
Forest are in 16th place but with just 21 points and are two from the bottom three and are awaiting a possible FFP points deduction so they need to start chalking up wins. Home has not been where the heart is and the club have lost 50% of their games here and won just 3 from 12, this includes four defeats from their last five games at the City Ground and the club would rank in 16th place based on home form alone.
West Ham are on a poor run with just three points won from their past 15 on offer and three consecutive draws have been followed up by back to back defeats. The worry is the goals being leaked and the Hammers have conceded 9 of them in their last two games alone. Last weekend witnessed the bulk of that horror with a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal and that was a home game. The pressure has been piled back onto manager David Moyes and it seems he has lost a majority of the fans as they walked out of the stadium in process far before the Arsenal game had ended. Perhaps the good news is that not all is lost and the club are in 8th place and in the knockout stages of the Europa League. West Ham are at a crucial moment now because their season can still be rescued and they could well finish in a respectable place. However with teams tightly bunched it wouldn’t be a stretch to see them collapse and quickly fall down to the bottom section of the Premier League. The club needs to turn it around and quickly.
It is ironic that the Hammers have just been beaten 6-0 by Arsenal because the clubs last away victory was against the same side. That is football for you and underlines how strong and unpredictable the Premier League can be. West Ham’s last two away games have seen them draw 2-2 with bottom club Sheffield United and lose 3-0 against Manchester United.
Team News:
Nottingham Forest: Ola Aina, Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare were all involved in the latter stages of the African Cup of Nations and have been given an extra week’s time off, all will return next week. Chris Wood and Gonzalo Montiel are both out with hamstring injuries with no fixed return dates
West Ham: Michail Antonio could be in line to return but will be assessed for a lack of match fitness. Lucas Paqueta remains out with a calf injury with no return date as of yet
Nottm Forest vs West Ham Head to Head:
Last season Nottingham Forest won this fixture 1-0.
In the last 2 meetings West Ham put 7 goals past Nottingham Forest- although they were both home games.
It’s been 12 years since West Ham last beat Nottingham Forest away from home.
Nottm Forest vs West Ham Prediction:
West Ham are at a crucial moment now because their season can still be rescued and they could well finish in a respectable place. However with teams tightly bunched it wouldn’t be a stretch to see them collapse and quickly fall down to the bottom section of the Premier League. The club needs to turn it around and quickly. West Ham have a near full fit squad and the fans will be demanding more passion and excitement which has been lacking since the turn of the year.
Nottingham Forest are under pressure too and they won’t stay up unless their home form improves. This ground can be difficult for most clubs with the right atmosphere and if they were to lose to an out of sorts Hammer’s side that wouldn’t bode well for the months ahead. We will back the home side to edge through, but the Hammers do have the better squad, do they have the belief and conviction at present though?
Nottm Forest vs West Ham Betting Tips:
Draw no bet (Nottingham Forest) at 1.81
Correct Score: Nottingham Forest to win 1-0 or 2-0 at 8.00 and 12,00
Anytime goalscorer: Taiwo Awoniyi at 2.50
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