Nottingham Forest will look to continue their hunt for a Championship play-off spot when they head to Sheffield Wednesday.
Nottingham Forest Head to Sheffield Wednesday Hopeful of Promotion Push
Championship Preview: Sheffield Wednesday v Nottingham Forest
After three months’ break due to the coronavirus pandemic, Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi will likely see this fixture as an ideal chance to restart his side’s promotion credentials.
Prior to the enforced suspension, the Reds had been on a dip of form with just one win from six outings.
Now, however, Forest will look to pick up the form between Boxing Day and early February when they had shown signs of holding a promotion charge.
Head to Head
For many Forest fans, it will seem a lifetime ago that they were heavily beaten by Wednesday.
The Reds were 4-0 down at half-time in December when Wednesday visited the City Ground; while no further goals were added after the break, it remains one of their heaviest defeats of the season.
Wednesday have beaten Forest consecutively four times from their last five fixtures at Hillsborough, a run stretching back to August 2014.
Team News
Sheffield Wednesday
The Owls will be boosted by the return of top-scorer Steven Fletcher. The forward missed training last week due to a minor knock but has since returned.
Garry Monk‘s side will, however, be without Josh Windass when football returns on Saturday afternoon. He picked up an injury in training last week and will be assessed at the end of the month.
Nottingham Forest
Forest hope to have mostly a full squad for the trip north. Tiago Silva had been unavailable for the two games before lockdown due to appendicitis, while fellow midfielder Samba Sow had been sidelined since February due to a knee problem.
Alongside Nuno Da Costa, all three players have returned to training to give Lamouchi plenty of food for thought to select from.
View From the Managers
Ahead of his side’s trip to Yorkshire, Reds boss Sabri Lamouchi said: “It is different to before but we need to restart not only for the football, but for the people, for the clubs and for the fans.
“We have to be ready for that because after a long stop like we have done, a short preparation of four or five weeks, we won’t be in the best condition because we start with small groups, then bigger groups and finally the last two weeks it was allowed to train with the full team. But finally, we will restart.
“It is a very strange time, nobody three or four months ago could imagine this could happen. Unfortunately, it did and we have to take the right decisions, adapt and find the right solution and the right way to work.”
Garry Monk used his pre-match press conference to update supporters on players whose contracts expire later this month.
He said: “We need them in this period and I’m hopeful things will get done. They have been asked to extend and there is still time for that to be finalised.
“We have one game, a week’s break and then eight games back to back which will be massive.
“Pre-empting that, there will be a lot of changes for freshness, there could be injuries, anything and we have to be ready for that.”
Prediction
As with all the first matches of the restart, it is difficult to call which way the fixture will finish.
Nottingham Forest have been a contender for promotion most of this season and will be desperate to get a win under their belts to kick-start a run of form.
In preparation for this weekend’s meeting, the Reds beat Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers whereas the Owls have only participated in an intra-squad friendly.
Monk’s side have strutted along this season in a mid-table position so we see Forest edging them out at Hillsborough to maintain their promotion aspirations.
Prediction: Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Nottingham Forest
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