Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham Hotspur: Ola Aina to battle Udogie — Preview, team news, tips & H2H

Nottingham Forest welcome Tottenham Hotspur to the City Ground on Saturday, September 5, 2026, Afrik-Foot reports.

Super Eagles right-wing-back Ola Aina lines up for the hosts on the back of a 7.0-rated shift in the 2-2 draw at Anfield, while Tottenham roll into Nottingham without a single Premier League goal to their name this season.

Oliver Glasner’s Forest picked up their first point of the 2026/27 top-flight campaign at Liverpool last weekend, leading twice through Dan Ndoye and Morgan Gibbs-White before Cody Gakpo’s assist for Alexander Isak and Víctor Muñoz’s 82nd-minute strike rescued a draw for the hosts.

Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham, meanwhile, have conceded six goals across two league games.

Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham Hotspur match preview

The context surrounding this fixture runs sharply counter to the pre-season expectations for both dressing rooms.

Tottenham spent in excess of £330 million across 10 summer arrivals, headlined by Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Savinho and Omar Marmoush, but have converted none of that outlay into an opening-weeks league goal.

Their 3-0 opening-day defeat at Brentford, and the 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle four days later, was made painfully more poignant by former Forest winger Anthony Elanga, sold to St James’ Park for £55 million last summer, opening the scoring.

Forest’s opening was similarly modest. Glasner’s side lost 1-0 at home to Leeds on the opening day before travelling to Anfield and producing a spirited performance in front of the Kop.

Aina and fellow wing-back Neco Williams found joy attacking Liverpool’s Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong at full-back, and both are set for similar opportunities against Tottenham full-backs Archie Gray and Andy Robertson.

Head-to-head record: Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham

Recent history between the two clubs has largely been in Forest’s favour. The Tricky Trees have won each of their last four Premier League meetings with Tottenham dating back to April 2024.

Going through the last 10 meetings, the victories have been evenly split between both sides, with Forest claiming five victories and Spurs claiming five victories, with no draws between them.

Team news, injuries and predicted XIs

Nottingham Forest

Forest’s team news picture is manageable but not clean. Ibrahim Sangaré is doubtful with the calf injury that kept him out of the Anfield trip, Nicolò Savona remains weeks away from a knee-injury return, and both of Glasner’s deadline-day arrivals in Daniel Muñoz (from Crystal Palace) and Liam Delap (from Chelsea) are expected to begin on the bench.

Xaver Schlager should keep his place alongside James McAtee in central midfield if Sangaré is again absent, with Aina, Williams, Gibbs-White, Ndoye and Igor Jesus all in line to reprise the roles they performed at Anfield.

Predicted Nottingham Forest XI (3-4-2-1): Sels; Milenković, Murillo, Jair Cunha; Aina, Schlager, McAtee, Williams; Gibbs-White, Ndoye; Igor Jesus.

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham’s injury list is longer and thornier for De Zerbi. Xavi Simons is out for the remainder of 2026 with the knee injury sustained late last season; Wilson Odobert continues to work through his own long-term knee rehabilitation.

James Maddison fractured his shoulder in the Brentford defeat and is not expected to feature.

Dejan Kulusevski has returned to training after a 16-month absence, but the City Ground trip is likely to come too soon.

Mohammed Kudus, back from the quad injury that has kept him out since January, is targeting his first Premier League start of the season. Deadline-day arrivals Mykhaylo Mudryk (loan from Chelsea) and Tosin Adarabioyo (permanent from Chelsea) are in the squad, while Dominic Solanke is expected to return from a minor foot issue to lead the line.

Predicted Tottenham XI (4-3-3): Kinsky; Porro, Van Hecke, Van de Ven, Udogie; Bentancur, Tonali, Fernandes; Kudus, Solanke, Marmoush.

Star player comparison: Morgan Gibbs-White vs Omar Marmoush

The managers: Oliver Glasner vs Roberto Dezerbi

Oliver Glasner’s fingerprints are already visible on his players. The 52-year-old Austrian arrived at the City Ground in July 2026 after departing Crystal Palace, where his 3-4-2-1 built around vertical transitions and defensive compactness had earned him a reputation as one of Europe’s top coaches.

His 2022 Europa League triumph with Eintracht Frankfurt remains the headline achievement on his CV, and the Anfield performance suggested his Forest players have quickly absorbed his tactical framework.

Roberto De Zerbi’s task is significantly more complicated. The Italian assumed the Tottenham job in March 2026 with the club deep in a relegation scrap, and successfully steered Spurs to safety on the final day of last season.

His summer brought a squad of several new arrivals for him to integrate at once, and despite their poor displays in the opening gameweeks, he’s firm in the direction he and the club are going.

Tactical preview: Glasner’s 3-4-2-1 vs De Zerbi’s build-up

The tactical mismatch here almost writes the game plan for Forest. Glasner’s 3-4-2-1 is designed to concede possession, drop into a compact mid-block and exploit vertical space in transition.

Meanwhile, De Zerbi’s insistence on building through goalkeeper Antonín Kinsky offers exactly the kind of turnovers that system feeds on.

Gibbs-White, positioned between the lines as one of two attackers behind Igor Jesus, is the connection point between Forest’s defensive block and their attacking third.

His movement into the intermediate zones vacated by Bentancur and Tonali when both step forward to press is the specific channel through which Forest have opened Tottenham up in each of the last two league meetings between the sides.

The wing-back battle will be equally telling. Aina and Williams have licence to attack Porro and Udogie on their outside shoulders.

Aina’s overlapping runs on the right offer a direct route into the Tottenham box that De Zerbi’s midfield press may not find an answer to.

Betting tips and predictions

Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham score prediction