Nottingham Forest vs Crystal Palace predicted XIs: Team news and probable line-ups | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace bring down the curtain on Matchday Eight of the Premier League season with a Monday night showdown at the City Ground.

Forest have made the faster start to the 2024/25 season, while Palace await their first win after a frustrating opening.

Both matches between these teams ended in draws last year, with this season’s first meeting in Nottingham scheduled to kick off at 8pm (UK time) and being broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League.

Forest doing fine as Eagles remain grounded

Prophecies of doom for Forest have so far been wide of the mark and, while it’s still relatively early days in the season, most fans and boss Nuno Espirito Santo would doubtless be delighted with a ten-point haul from the first seven games.

Few would have them down for the 1-0 win at Liverpool, while draws at Brighton and Chelsea have to be filed away under “creditable”.

Their one loss was a 1-0 defeat by Fulham and it may be a minor concern that they have not won in six league games at the City Ground, a venue that was deemed a real fortress when they arrived back in the top-flight in August 2022.

In contrast, it’s all been something of a struggle for the Eagles, the club who finished last term on fire with six wins in their last seven, but a group who have failed to register a single win in their first seven this time.

Three draws, at least, mean they went into round eight of games off the foot of the table and in their last two defeats — 2-1 at Everton and 1-0 at home to Liverpool — they have been competitive.

They are averaging over 13 shots per game — more than Forest — but have scored only five times, while Forest have themselves only bagged seven and last season’s two fixtures were low-scoring draws.

Nottingham Forest vs Crystal Palace team news

Forest boss Nuno will have one change to make with James Ward-Prowse suspended following his red card at Chelsea, though he may have other tweaks to make as well.

In goal, for example, Matz Sels is an injury doubt meaning 6ft 8in Brazilian keeper Carlos Miguel could make his league debut.

Nuno’s defence picks itself, while Nicolas Dominguez could swap in for Ward-Prowse alongside Ryan Yates. Morgan Gibbs-White is also an injury doubt, offering Elliot Anderson the chance to take the No.10 role flanked by Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga.

Up front, much will depend on how fresh New Zealander Chris Wood is after clocking up almost 20,000 air miles over the international break.

Palace boss Oliver Glasner has had injury concerns over wing-back Daniel Munoz and midfielder Adam Wharton, but declared both are in training and set to be involved. Cheikh Doucoure, out for a month, is also fit.

Glasner was also experimenting with a back four in a friendly against Ipswich during the international break and it will be interesting to see if he wheels it out at Forest.

Nottingham Forest vs Crystal Palace predicted XIs