Match preview: Forest v Wednesday

15 December 2020

The Owls travel to Nottingham Forest this evening in the Sky Bet Championship.

The hosts head into tonight’s fixture with six defeats from the last seven games and are one place above the bottom three on goal difference.

Likewise, Wednesday need a positive result to put a halt to the run of three successive losses.

After defeat at Hillsborough on Saturday, the Owls are four points from safety in the Championship, so there is plenty riding on tonight’s clash at The City Ground for both sides.

Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game;

MATCH DETAILS

- Date: Tuesday 15 December
- Kick-off, 7.45pm
- Championship
- City Ground

OFFICIALS

Referee – Stephen Martin
Assistant Referee – Wade Smith
Assistant Referee – Carl Fitch-Jackson
Fourth Official – Steven Copeland

WATCH LIVE

The game is live on iFollow, with multi-angle coverage, replays and commentary in association with BBC Radio Sheffield.

CLICK HERE to purchase your match pass.

Season Ticket holders must apply before 4.00pm today to guarantee access for the Forest v Owls fixture.

TEAM NEWS

SWFC: Dominic Iorfa is now ruled out for a significant period of time following his Achilles injury on Saturday in our 2-1 home defeat against Barnsley.

Chey Dunkley made his debut for the club at the weekend and having come through over an hour unscathed, the influential defender is an option for Wednesday.

Julian Börner missed out against the Reds but could make his return to action tonight at The City Ground, while Liam Shaw comes back into contention having served his three-match suspension.

Nottingham Forest: Chris Hughton’s side have injury and suspension concerns to contend with.

Anthony Knockaert was dismissed late in Forest’s 3-1 home defeat to Brentford on Saturday and will miss tonight’s game through suspension.

Portuguese defender Tobias Figueiredo also serves a one-match ban after picking up his fifth booking of the season against the Bees.

Scott McKenna is sidelined through injury, so either Michael Dawson or Loic Mbe Soh are likely to step in, in place of Figueiredo.

Tyler Blackett, Fouad Bachirou and Lewis Grabban have all stepped up their recovery from injury but are unlikely to be involved tonight.

FORM GUIDE

Wednesday: DDLLL
Forest: LDLLL

LAST FIVE v Forest

Owls 1-1 Forest – 20 June 2020 – Championship
Forest 0-4 Owls – 14 December 2019 – Championship
Owls 3-0 Forest – 9 April 2019 – Championship
Forest 2-1 Owls – 19 September 2018 – Championship
Forest 0-3 Owls – 26 December 2017 – Championship

LAST MEETING AT THE CITY GROUND

Match Reports

Report: Forest 2-0 Wednesday

15 December 2020

An early goal from Yuri Ribeiro and substitute Lewis Grabban’s late strike settled a Championship basement battle at The City Ground as Nottingham Forest overcame Wednesday.

A contest largely lacking in incident and real talking points was a relatively even affair, with the goalkeepers spectators for much of the 90 minutes.

But the hosts registered where it mattered to end a bleak run of recent results, leaving the Owls to nurse a fourth successive defeat.

Forest were off to a flyer, taking the lead inside four minutes. Cafu found Ribeiro on the angle 18 yards out and the defender unleashed a fierce drive that flew across Joe Wildsmith and in.

Wednesday slowly but surely looked to recover from that early blow and Tom Lees glanced a dangerous Adam Reach cross wide.

Forest hit back with Cafu stroking a Sammy Ameobi cross home from close range only to see a raised flag cut short any celebrations.

Play returned to the other end, where Kadeem Harris brought Brice Samba into action with a low shot, before the Reds went close to doubling their lead.

Cyrus Christie delivered a daisycutter inside the box that eventually fell to Lyle Taylor, whose snapshot was cleared off the line by Chey Dunkley.

Moments later, the Owls motored upfield and Reach was a whisker away from connecting to a Barry Bannan feed at the back post.

Half time came and went with possession shared and chances at a premium.

Most of the play unfolded in the middle third – Ameobi broke ranks just past the hour to try his luck from distance but Wildsmith comfortably smothered.

Wednesday threw on three substitutes in the closing stages pursuing a point but it was Forest who scored next following their own introduction from the bench with four minutes to go.

Grabban made inroads down the right of the penalty area after winning a fierce duel with Lees and executed an unstoppable effort into the bottom corner to seal victory.

Wednesday: Wildsmith, Odubajo, Lees, Dunkley, van Aken (Rhodes 80), Shaw (Hunt 75), Bannan, Harris (Paterson 55), Pelupessy, Reach, Windass (Brown 75)