🏏 Sat, 19 Sep 2026 17:30 BST
Nottingham Forest
vs
Coventry
3-4-2-1 vs 3-4-2-1
Substitutes
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Match Preview
- Nottingham Forest sit 12th on five points from four games (1W-2D-1L, four scored and four conceded), while Coventry City prop up the table in 20th with zero points, no goals scored and ten conceded. The promoted side are the only team in the division yet to find the net, and with leaders Manchester City already on 12 points, the gap at the bottom is widening fast.
- Forest lost their opener 1-0 at home to Leeds but are unbeaten in three since. They traded blows in a 2-2 draw at Liverpool on matchday two, shut out Tottenham in a goalless home draw, then claimed their first win of the season with a 2-1 victory at Aston Villa. Four goals scored and four conceded across four games tells the story: this is a team grinding out points on a defensive platform.
- Coventry's record reads defeat in all four: 3-0 at Arsenal, 1-0 at home to Hull City, 1-0 at Manchester City and then a chastening 5-0 home loss to Brighton last time out. That heavy defeat exposed how much rebuilding the back line needs, but the more urgent question is simply where the club's first Premier League goal is going to come from.
- Coventry's starting XI is a tribute to the non-league pathway. Lone striker Brandon Thomas-Asante, 27, climbed from Salford City via MK Dons and West Brom; fellow attacker Ephron Mason-Clark, also 27, came through Barnet and Peterborough. Jack Rudoni, 25, started at Tonbridge Angels before AFC Wimbledon and Huddersfield, while 33-year-old Jamaica international Ethan Pinnock rose from Dulwich Hamlet through Forest Green, Barnsley and Brentford.
- Coventry's bench includes Japanese attacker Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, 29, wearing No.7. He worked his way up from Montedio Yamagata to Cerezo Osaka, then to Oostende in Belgium before reaching the Premier League. At 170cm he relies on close control, quick feet and direct running from wide areas — exactly the kind of change-of-pace option a side still searching for its first goal of the campaign may need late on.
- This is a 3-4-2-1 mirror match, so the wing-back duels will be decisive. Forest go with Liverpool academy graduate and Champions League winner Neco Williams, 25, of Wales on the left and Colombia international Daniel Muñoz, 30, signed from Crystal Palace after 148 games at Genk, on the right. Coventry counter with 170cm Chelsea product Jay Dasilva, 28, on the left and 20-year-old Ghana international Caleb Yirenkyi — a natural central midfielder — pushed out to the right.
- Forest's attack is led by 23-year-old Liam Delap, a Manchester City academy graduate who earned a £30m move to Chelsea after impressing at Ipswich. Behind him are England playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White, 26, and Switzerland's Dan Ndoye, 25, a Coppa Italia winner with Bologna who featured at EURO 2024. Delap's hold-up play combined with the running power of the two No.10s is the main threat to Coventry's back three.
- The central midfield pairings contrast neatly. Forest anchor with Austria international Xaver Schlager, 28, signed from RB Leipzig with 51 caps and four goals to his name, alongside 23-year-old James McAtee, who spent 11 years at Manchester City and captained England to the 2025 U21 European Championship title. Coventry reply with 31-year-old left-footed metronome Matt Grimes, long-time Swansea captain, and Nigeria's Frank Onyeka, 28, of Midtjylland and Brentford pedigree.
- The back threes are worth studying too. Forest field left-footed Brazilian Murillo, 24, signed from Corinthians, Ivory Coast international Ousmane Diomande, 22, of Sporting CP, and 198cm 21-year-old Jair da Cunha, with Belgium's Matz Sels, 34 — once voted Ligue 1's best goalkeeper at Strasbourg — behind them. Coventry pair 193cm Bobby Thomas, 25, and Pinnock with 18-year-old Manchester City academy product Shu Mfuni, a remarkably young inclusion in a back line already leaking goals.
- If the game goes late, Forest hold the stronger hand in reserve. Their bench features 191cm New Zealand captain Chris Wood, 34, Igor Jesus, who helped Botafogo win the Copa Libertadores and scored on his Brazil debut, and Callum Hudson-Odoi, a Champions League and Europa League winner with Chelsea. Coventry's counter-punches are Gustavo Hamer, 29, back at the club where he produced 19 goals and 24 assists in 132 appearances, and 191cm forward Ellis Simms.