Ola Aina's Nottingham Forest go up this weekend against Everton, another club whose cause to remain in the top-flight has not been helped by points deductions as a result of the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Looking forward to that fixture, here's a preview of this upcoming fixture, as well as an Everton vs Nottingham Forest prediction.
Quick stats
- Everton have won just one of their last 11 games, a 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers Burnley just before the 6-0 thrashing suffered at Chelsea last Monday.
- Forest's recent form — one win in eight — is only slightly better, the sole exception coming earlier this month, when they beat Fulham 3-1 at home.
- Everton average just north of a point at their Goodison Park grounds; only the bottom three — Luton, Burnley, and Sheffield United — have performed worse before their own this term.
- Forest are, bar Sheffield, the league's worst travellers, having fetched just 10 points on the road all season.
Match preview
Everton badly need a response to the humiliation dished out to them at Stamford Bridge this week, a result that, even in a period that the Toffees haven't had it easy, is possibly the lowest they've sunk.
And there is no better way than to beat Forest — not the strongest of opponents, with all due respect, lying a place and a point below them on the table — before a home crowd that will demand nothing less than victory, preferably by a similarly emphatic margin.
Sean Dyche, who could barely look at his sorry players as Chelsea licked and beat them black and blue, will be desperate to produce just that against the club where he spent his formative years as a footballer.
Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo will be keen to avoid that sort of thing, wary of the mood his team will find their hosts in.
But they, too, are desperate for points and will not just show up to be slaughtered, or even for a mere share of the spoils. They will want it all, but that would mean improving significantly on an away record so poor that they haven't won on the road in the league since beating Newcastle United on Christmas Eve.
Injury to main centre-forward Taiwo Awoniyi has not helped matters, as while Chris Wood has managed a decent tally, the Nigeria striker's strength and ability to run the channels have been sorely missed. At a Goodison Park baying for blood, the test for Forest will be not just physical (against an Everton team that can be quite brutal), but psychological, too. Forest will have to be up for both facets.
If that's going to happen, Santo will rely a lot on Nigerian defender Aina. If it wasn't clear just how impactful the left-back's presence was to Forest's fortunes, the last few months have made it rather obvious.
Forest lost all but a third of the nine games they played consecutively from late January to mid-March when he was away for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2024) and then returned injured.
In contrast, in the last six games Aina has featured for the Garibaldi, Forest have picked points from all but one, including three victories. Santo, surely, would be wise to lean on the Nigeria international.
Everton vs Nottingham Forest H2H: Last 10 Games
December 2023: Forest 0-1 Everton
March 2023: Forest 2-2 Everton
August 2022: Everton 1-1 Forest
January 1999: Everton 0-1 Forest
September 1998: Forest 0-2 Everton
February 1997: Everton 2-0 Forest
October 1996: Forest 0-1 Everton
February 1996: Everton 3-0 Forest
September 1995: Forest 3-2 Everton
March 1995: Forest 2-1 Everton
Everton vs Nottingham Forest prediction
Everton have the edge with respect to the head-to-head, winning half of their last ten encounters with Forest. But considering that run goes all the way back to the mid-nineties, and that Forest haven't lost on the blue side of Stanley Park since 1997, there is little to suggest that record is instructive.
Besides, Everton are rock-bottom right now, and while they'll certainly put up a fight for pride and then some, a draw is likely to be on the cards in this meeting of two teams in dire straits and with very little between them on Sunday.
Everton vs Nothingham Forest: predicted lineups
Everton: Pickford; Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Young, Garner, Gomes, McNeil, Doucoure; Beto
Nottingham Forest; Sels; Williams, Omobamidele, Murillo, Aina; Danilo, Yates; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
