{"id":653951,"date":"2025-04-21T05:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T09:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=653951"},"modified":"2025-04-21T05:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T09:48:11","slug":"nottingham-forest-predicted-lineup-vs-tottenham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/04\/21\/nottingham-forest-predicted-lineup-vs-tottenham\/","title":{"rendered":"Nottingham Forest Predicted Lineup vs Tottenham for April 21"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nottingham Forest return to action with a potentially season-defining away trip to struggling Tottenham, as they look to recover from back-to-back defeats to maintain their place in the Premier League top five. The Tricky Trees have slipped from third to fifth in recent weeks and a loss here would leave them level on points with sixth-placed Aston Villa, who have won their last five Premier League games and look primed to pip Forest to a Champions League spot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opponents Tottenham have had an extremely poor season and currently find themselves marooned in 15th place, having lost 17 of their 32 league games. Ex-Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo will feel confident that his side will secure the much-needed three points. <\/span>Here is<\/span> the Nottingham Forest predicted lineup for their away clash against Tottenham on April 21.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nottingham Forest Predicted Lineup vs Tottenham for April 21<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

How Forest Have Lined Up Recently<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Injuries to key players Chris Wood, Anthony Elanga, and Ola Aina have forced Nuno to reshuffle his previously settled side in recent weeks, which has coincided with the club losing back-to-back games for the first time this season. In their 1-0 defeat against Everton on April 12, Forest\u2019s attack lacked their usual penetration with Jota Silva starting in place of the recovering Elanga, and a rather rusty Chris Wood perhaps being prematurely reintroduced to the side out of necessity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forest\u2019s excellent defensive record this season has largely been down to the form of goalkeeper Matz Sels and centre-halves Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo, who have all been ever-present as the club <\/span>have<\/span> challenged for a European place. Completing the back-four, Alex Moreno came in at left-back against Everton in place of the injured Aina, and Neco Williams has been fantastic all season playing at both left-back and right-back for Nuno\u2019s side.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More<\/span><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span>Five Strikers Nottingham Forest Could Sign This Summer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

In midfield, the Tricky Trees have rotated largely between Elliot Anderson, Nicolas Dominguez, and skipper Ryan Yates. Operating in a 4-2-3-1 system, Forest\u2019s midfield <\/span>have<\/span> excelled, with summer signing Anderson the pick of the bunch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Further forward, Morgan Gibbs-White has been the creative heartbeat of Nuno\u2019s side and has forged an excellent relationship with star wingers Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga. Chris Wood completes the team, with the big New Zealander looking to regain the\u00a0sparkling pre-injury form that saw him score 18 goals in just 29 Premier League games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forest\u2019s Recent Form and Tactics<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

With Forest forced to play without a recognised centre-forward against Aston Villa on April 5, Nuno opted for a back five, which was an unsuccessful experiment. The return of Chris Wood against Everton in their next game allowed the Reds to revert to their typical 4-2-3-1 system, which has brought them enormous success throughout the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

This highlights the importance of a target man in Nuno\u2019s system. Chris Wood\u2019s hold-up play allows Forest to launch effective counter-attacks and get in behind their opponents quickly. The Tricky Trees are a counter-attacking team at their core,\u00a0<\/span>comfortable with having the least average possession in the Premier League<\/span><\/a>, and Ange Postecoglou\u2019s possession-heavy Tottenham side should be an ideal team to exploit on the break.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nottingham Forest Injuries to Consider<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to Premier Injuries<\/span><\/a>, Forest have two players fighting to be fit for Monday\u2019s clash: Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aina has missed the last two games after the right-back picked up a seemingly innocuous injury during the 1-0 victory over Manchester United on April 1. The 28-year-old has been one of Forest\u2019s most consistently impressive players this season, playing the most minutes of any outfield player before his injury. Nuno will be desperate to re-integrate the Nigerian international as soon as possible. With the defender facing a late fitness test, it is unlikely that he will be fit to start against the Toffees, but <\/span>could<\/span> make the bench.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More<\/span><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span>The Five Forest Players Out of Contract This Summer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Awoniyi, who has struggled for fitness throughout the season, is also nearing a return to action for the Reds. Typically utilised as a backup option off the bench, the 27-year-old has featured in 23 Premier League games this season, scoring once, and will face a late fitness test before Monday\u2019s game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nottingham Forest Predicted Lineup vs Tottenham<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

GK: Matz Sels<\/span><\/p>\n

RB: Neco Williams<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Nikola Milenkovic<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Murillo<\/span><\/p>\n

LB: Alex Moreno<\/span><\/p>\n

DM: Elliot Anderson<\/span><\/p>\n

DM: Nicolas Dominguez<\/span><\/p>\n

AM Morgan Gibbs-White<\/span><\/p>\n

RW: Anthony Elanga<\/span><\/p>\n

LW: Callum Hudson-Odoi<\/span><\/p>\n

ST: Chris Wood<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nottingham Forest return to action with a potentially season-defining away trip to struggling Tottenham, as they look to recover from back-to-back defeats to maintain their place in the Premier League top five. The Tricky Trees have slipped from third to fifth in recent weeks and a loss here would leave them level on points with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5510,"featured_media":653720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4475,3,1831],"tags":[31768],"class_list":["post-653951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nottingham-forest","category-premier-league","category-starting-line-up","tag-nottingham-forest-predicted-lineup"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653951"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653961,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653951\/revisions\/653961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}