Nottingham Forest FC vs Southampton FC, Premier League 2022-2023, Today Match Prediction

Nottingham Forest FC vs Southampton FC Match Prediction & Analysis

Nottingham Forest and Southampton will serve up the most important game of the weekend, certainly near the bottom of the Premier League, with a win the minimum requirement for both clubs.

Steve Cooper’s Forest have managed to stay on the coattails of other teams in and around the danger zone and are level on points with Leeds and Leicester ahead of them.

A win here would launch them out of the bottom three, potentially as high as 16th depending on the results of other teams nearby.

On the other hand, Southampton will end this weekend at the foot of the league, regardless of the result here They can’t seem to catch a break right now and are most people’s favourites to go down at the end.

With 12 points still available to them this season, they have a six-point gap to make up.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Nottingham Forest FC Preview

Reasons to be cheerful:

     Beat Southampton earlier this season

     Claimed 10 of 12 points available against fellow bottom-six sides

Reasons to be fearful:

     Won just one of their last 13 games

     Lost five of their last six

Nottingham Forest have a brilliant opportunity to pull away from the bottom three with victory here, at the City Ground where most of their best results have come this season.

Forest claimed an impressive, if not unlikely win over Brighton in their game before last, although that didn’t last long as they fell to another defeat to Brentford last weekend.

It leaves them level on points with Leeds and Leicester, with the former losing to Manchester City at the weekend. Leicester face Fulham a few hours before this one.

Forest beat Southampton earlier in the season, with Awoniyi scoring the only goal of the game, a result that lifted them up to 14th in the table. They could do with a similar result here.

With just one win from their last 13, they can do with a change in fortune quickly.

Star Man – Morgan Gibbs-White

Midfielder Danilo has scored in his last two games but will face a late fitness test. Gibbs-White has popped up with important goals at points this season, and could do with another here.

Southampton FC Preview

Reasons to be cheerful

     Have to go for broke against Forest

     Win would give them slender hope

Reasons to be fearful

     Lost five of their last six league games

     Winless in their previous nine

Southampton’s hopes of survival have been slim for some time now, although you could say that they are in last chance saloon here.

Anything but victory is of little use to them from now on, and with Fulham, Brighton and Liverpool to follow, it would take nothing short of a miracle to make it happen.

This is arguably the Saints’ best chance of victory in their remaining games, so they have to go all out for the win here. 

Positively, in two of their recent three games, they’ve taken the lead against Arsenal and Newcastle. Although both opponents came from behind to either draw or win, Southampton must play in the same way here.

Star Man – Carlos Alcaraz

Alcaraz has a few goals to his name this season, and has come to life more in the second part of the season. He could do with another flurry until the end of the campaign.