Nottingham Forest vs West Ham United Preview: Probable Lineups, Prediction, Tactics, Team News & Key Stats

West Ham United will travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest in the second matchweek of the 2022/23 Premier League season.

West Ham United started their Premier League season with a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City, with new signing Erling Haaland scoring both the goals for Pep Guardiola’s side. The defeat at the London Stadium has pegged back the Hammers a bit but this was a fixture in which David Moyes’ side were not the favourites.

However, against newly promoted Nottingham Forest, they will start as the favourites to clinch all three points. With the London side set to play in the Europa Conference League as well, they will hope that the league season gets on track quickly to avoid any late hiccups as the season progresses.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest started their season back in the top-flight with a 2-0 defeat as well. They went down to Newcastle United with both of the Magpies’ goals coming in the second half. Fabian Schar opened the scoring for them before Callum Wilson sealed the deal with yet another strike.

Nottingham Forest have made a flurry of crucial additions to the side and will want to register a win in their first home game of the season. It will be interesting to see whether they can put up a fight and challenge West Ham when the two sides face off on Sunday.

Team News & Tactics

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper is expected to make one or two changes to the side that started against Newcastle. Omar Richards and Ryan Yates continue to be long-term absentees. Summer signing Orel Mangala could be handed his full debut in the central midfield. Fellow new signing Taiwo Awoniyi could start up front for the Reds as well.

Cooper is likely to field a 3-4-1-2 as he did against Newcastle with Jesse Lingard taking the No. 10 role. Dean Henderson, on loan from Manchester United, will man the goal with a back three of Joe Worrall, Moussa Niakhate and Scott McKenna shielding him.

Neco Williams, Mangala, Jack Colback and Harry Toffolo will form the midfield with Lingard playing in the space behind the two strikers, who will be Awoniyi and Brennan Johnson.

Probable Lineup (3-4-1-2): Henderson; Worrall, Niakhate, McKenna; Williams, Mangala, Colback, Toffolo; Lingard; Awoniyi, Johnson

West Ham United

David Moyes has a few tough decisions to make for the trip to Nottingham. Lukas Fabianski is a doubt, along with Craig Dawson, whereas Angelo Ogbonna and Nayef Ageurd will continue to be absent due to respective injuries.

New signing Gianluca Scamacca could be handed his full debut as there are doubts over the participation of Michail Antonio, who picked up a knock against Manchester City.

Another new signing, Maxwel Cornet, could also make his debut, with Moyes stressing that he is ready to start in his pre-match conference. The Ivorian ought to occupy the left flank, with Manuel Lanzini, Jarrod Bowen and Gianluca Scamacca making up the rest of the attacking unit.

Alphonse Areola could be drafted in as well with question marks over Fabiansi’s participation. Ben Johnson is likely to partner Kurt Zouma in central defence yet again, with Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell slotting in as the full-backs. Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek will form the double pivot in midfield.

Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Areola; Coufal, Johnson, Zouma, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Lanzini, Cornet; Scamacca

Key Stats

• Nottingham Forest have won 44 encounters against West Ham United, with the Hammers coming on top on 46 matches, while 26 have finished in draws.
• The last meeting between the two sides came in the 2013/14 FA Cup, in which Nottingham won 5-0.
• The last time these two sides met in a league set-up was in the 2011/12 Championship season, with the Hammers winning both the ties.
• The last Premier League meeting between the two sides came way back in 1999. The Hammers won the encounter 2-1.
• The last Premier League meeting between the two sides as City Ground came in 1998, with the match finishing goalless.

Player to Watch

Jesse Lingard

The former Manchester United man finally got his wish of leaving Old Trafford but he chose to move to Nottingham Forest amid interest from West Ham. The move has led to a lot of criticism from pundits, who have pointed fingers at Jesse Lingard saying that the decision to join Forest was driven by money.

Lingard’s best time in the English top-flight in recent history came for West Ham, whom he joined for a six-month loan for the second half of the 2020/21 season. Having made an underwhelming debut for Steve Cooper’s side last week, expect the Englishman to come out good in this encounter.

Prediction

Nottingham Forest 2-1 West Ham United

With Premier League returning to the City Ground after a long time, the home fans will be fully behind their side to register a win against West Ham United. We expect Nottingham to come out on top in a closely-fought encounter with a 2-1 scoreline.