Nottingham Forest have the opportunity to make a serious statement about themselves later today when they travel to Liverpool.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad may have surprised a few people with an unblemished start to the 2024/25 Premier League season.
With five points from their first three games, the Reds already lead Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.
However, their most difficult job to date will probably be their journey to Anfield on Saturday afternoon to play Liverpool, who have won all three of their games.
With Arne Slot’s team still to concede a goal, Forest will need something exceptional to get anything out of the encounter on Merseyside.
Here’s Nottingham Forest News’ anticipated XI for this afternoon.
Ibrahim Sangare is an injury doubt.
The international break has not been kind to Forest, with Nuno revealing Ibrahim Sangare is doubtful for the trip to Anfield.
“We have doubts about Sangare and Boly, and we know Danilo is out. We are evaluating each of them. “We have to wait a little bit to be absolutely certain,” Nuno remarked earlier this week.
Sangare has made the most tackles in the Premier League, and with Danilo already out due to injury, Ryan Yates might return to the starting lineup.
Forest fans will know exactly what to expect from the’special’ Yates, but the Reds will be praying that the Ivorian passes his late fitness test without incident.
Willy Boly is also an injury concern.
Nuno also provided an update on Willy Boly, so the centre-back pairing of Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic appears to be safe for another game.
Forest have yet to preserve a clean sheet this season, but they have been quite consistent at the defense, conceding only one goal in each of their three games.
Of course, Saturday afternoon will provide them with an entirely different test against a Liverpool side that just defeated Manchester United by three goals in front of their own fans.
“Boly sustained a calf injury. We are evaluating each of them. We still have one more day, and then we’ll see,” Nuno said during his press conference.
Chris Wood is experiencing exhaustion.
Nuno, who has already played in the United States with New Zealand, is now preventing Chris Wood from being fatigued following a busy international break.
Wood has been the standout player for Forest this season, scoring two of the team’s three league goals.
Chris Sutton has cautioned Liverpool that Wood has had an impressive start to the season, which he hopes to extend on Saturday.
However, it appears that Nuno is making a late judgment on whether it is worth the risk of potentially damaging the striker in a game from which few will expect Forest to gain anything.
Predicted XI vs Liverpool: Sels; Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Aina; Anderson, Yates; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood.
