Forest should be ‘worried’ about recent run of form, says Nuno

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo believes his side should be “worried” after losing back-to-back Premier League games for the first time this season.

On their return to top-flight action following the international break, Forest were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Arsenal, with their toothless display in attack seeing them fail to register a shot on target.

The result dropped Nuno’s side down to seventh in the standings after their impressive start to the campaign, and the Forest boss wants to see improvements, particularly at the back after conceding six goals in the space of two games.

“It was not a good performance. I will not say bad, but I think we did a lot of bad things. We came up short in all aspects of the game. Offensively we were short, and defensively we must recognise we have conceded six goals in two games, so we should be worried,” Nuno said.

“We have to put it right immediately this week. We have to get back to being compact, solid and not giving too much time to individual players with such quality.

“Second half we were better when we had adjusted a little bit. We were better pressing. But Arsenal were very clinical and played good. They killed the game, and it was a tough day for us.”

A new week. Regroup and go again. pic.twitter.com/Y3HQU31lPf

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) November 25, 2024

Ipswich, meanwhile, denied new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim a winning start with the Red Devils after holding them to a goalless draw at Portman Road last Sunday.

The Tractor Boys have now failed to win any of their first six home league games in a season for just the fourth time in the club’s league history, though Kieran McKenna believed his side were worthy of the victory against his former employers.

“We could have won the game, we finished the first half in the ascendancy and deserved to be at least level. The second half was competitive, we had a few big chances but had to be disciplined with our defending,” McKenna said.

“On another day we could have won it but if you concede an early goal the game could have run away from us, so credit to the players.”

McKenna also showered praise on midfielder Omari Hutchinson, with the former Chelsea man netting a stunning equaliser to cancel out Marcus Rashford’s early opener.

“He’s shown good stuff from the start of the season, but he’s starting to understand it a bit more. It’s his second season of senior football, it’s his first season of starting, and it’s his first season being in a team who are going to be in the bottom third of the league, or likely to be,” he added.

“He’s maturing well, and he showed all the qualities we want from a number 10 today. We feel like when teams come and press us high and open up the middle of the pitch, having a dribbler like Omari in there is really, really hard to handle.”

Another battling display. #IPSMUN pic.twitter.com/o4MVP9tzE9

— IPSWICH TOWN (@IpswichTown) November 24, 2024

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nottingham Forest – Callum Hudson-Odoi

Hudson-Odoi has created more chances (18) and had more touches in the opposition box (40) than any other Forest player this season.

However, he has managed just two goals from 13 appearances in all competitions so far this term, and Nuno will be hopeful he can rediscover his scoring touch this weekend.

Ipswich Town – Leif Davis

Davis has adapted well to life in the top-flight, and Ipswich fans will be glad to know that the knock he sustained against United was nothing serious.

He has created more chances than any other Ipswich player in the Premier League this season, with his 28 also the most among defenders so far in the competition this term.

MATCH PREDICTION: NOTTINGHAM FOREST WIN

Forest have lost just one of their six league meetings with Ipswich (W4 D1), with this the first between the sides since a 1-1 draw in March 2019.

The two teams have met each other four times in the Premier League – Ipswich won both meetings in 1992-93 as Forest were relegated, while Forest won both games in 1994-95 with the Tractor Boys going down.

Forest are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games against promoted sides (W5 D3), though, winning the last four in a row. Forest had failed to win any of their previous 15 such games before this run (D9 L6).

However, having lost just one of their first 10 Premier League games this season, Forest have now lost both of their last two. They’ve conceded three goals in these defeats, as many times as they’d conceded three or more goals in their previous 22 league games combined.

Ipswich, meanwhile, are winless in their last 14 away league games against Forest (D6 L8), with their last such victory coming in December 1999 (1-0 thanks to a Matt Holland goal).

McKenna’s side have drawn more games than any other Premier League side this season (six). It’s the first time they’ve drawn as many as half of their first 12 league games since 2018-19 (six) and first time in the top-flight since 1992-93 (seven).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Nottingham Forest – 57.9%

Draw – 21.9%

Ipswich Town – 20.2%