Both Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United suffered defeats in their opening games of the new Premier League season and the pair will be looking to bounce back in the second Friday kick-off of the campaign at the City Ground.
- Nottingham Forest to win
- Taiwo Awoniyi to score at any time
- Gustavo Hamer to be shown a card
Hosts Should Be Too Strong
Nottingham Forest had a rock-solid home record last season, losing just five of their 19 games at the City Ground in 2022/23.
Steve Cooper’s side took 30 of their 38 points in their own backyard and those efforts went a long way to keeping them up.
They can continue that form into the first home game of the new campaign, where they host Sheffield United.
The Blades have lost some of their key men from their promotion campaign, including Sander Berge and Iliman Ndiaye plus the Manchester City loan pair of Tommy Doyle and James McAtee.
Paul Heckingbottom’s men managed just a single shot on target in their 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace at the weekend, allowing eight by their opponents.
The Blades do not have a great head-to-head record against these opponents, having won just one of the last five meetings between the pair.
Against a Forest team who are so strong at home, the visitors may come up short again.
Awoniyi To Find The Net
Taiwo Awoniyi had a very respectable first campaign at Nottingham Forest last season, scoring ten times in 17 starts, and he kicked off the new season with a goal against Arsenal.
The Nigerian striker will be tasked with leading the line more often than not for the Tricky Trees in this campaign and could be a potential thorn in the side for Sheffield United team in this match.
Take Awoniyi to get on the scoresheet again and make it two goals from the first two games of the season.
New Boy Could Fall Foul Of The Referee
Gustavo Hamer has made the jump to Premier League level that he has been crying out for over the last 12 months at Coventry.
The Brazilian has been one of the standout midfielders in the Championship over the last few seasons and his all-action style of play almost propelled the Sky Blues to the top tier as they narrowly missed out on promotion in the play-off final in May.
A key element to Hamer’s game is his aggression and that could attract the attention of the referee in this match.
The 26-year-old has been shown 24 cards over the last two campaigns in the second tier and is sure to be eager to impress on his Blades debut, so he could well fall for the same fate again.
