The second international break of the season cannot come soon enough with the growing injury list so a point or three from Forest would be welcomed.
MATCH INFORMATION
- 5.30pm – 7th October 2023
- Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
PREVIOUS MEETING
It was the final game of the last season when Forest last made the trip down to South London, and with them being safe from relegation there was quite a party atmosphere. That was heighten when Taiwo Awoniyi gave them a half time lead but Will Hughes stepped up after the break to ensure the points were shared.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Michael Olise (8.6)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Craig Pawson. Assistants: Richard West, Marc Perry. Fourth official: Chris Kavanagh. VAR: Michael Salisbury. Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis.
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Eberechi Eze, Nathan Ferguson, Michael Olise, Naouirou Ahamada, Matheys Franca, Jefferson Lerma, Dean Henderson and James Tomkins are all ruled out. Odsonne Edouard is unlikely to feature.
FOREST – Felipe Monteiro, Moussa Niakhata, Danilo Oliveira and Wayne Hennessey are not available while Nuno Tavares, Nicolas Dominguez, Olaoluwa Aina and Ryan Yates are doubts.
DISCIPLINARY RECORD
RED CARDS – Joe Worrall (1), Moussa Niakhate (1)
YELLOW CARDS (3+) – Ola Aina (3), Joel Ward (3), Orel Mangala (3)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 28/05/23 Palace 1-1 Forest
- 12/11/22 Forest 1-0 Palace
- 19/07/19 Forest 1-0 Palace
- 29/12/12 Forest 2-2 Palace
- 18/09/12 Palace 1-1 Forest
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 30/09/23 United 0-1 Palace
- 26/09/23 United 3-0 Palace
- 16/09/23 Villa 3-1 Palace
- 03/09/23 Palace 3-2 Wolves
- 29/08/23 Plymouth 2-4 Palace
Last FIVE results for Forest;
- 01/10/23 Forest 1-1 Brentford
- 23/09/23 Manchester City 2-0 Forest
- 18/09/23 Forest 1-1 Burnley
- 02/09/23 Chelsea 0-1 Forest
- 30/08/23 Forest 0-1 Burnley
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 9th in the Premier League with 11 points from 7 games, while Forest are 12th with 8 points.
RECORD AGAINST FOREST
- Played 65
- Won 16
- Drawn 20
- Lost 29
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Joachim Andersen 7.57
- Eberechi Eze 7.48
- Willy Boly 7.26
- Morgan Gibbs-White 6.86
ONE TO WATCH
NICOLAS DOMINGUEZ
FORMER CLUBS – Velez Sarsfield, Bologna
The Argentine midfielder grabbed his first goal for Forest in the draw with Burnley last week. He joined the club in the summer from Bologna where he made over a century of appearances. To date, Dominguez has 11 caps for his country.
KEY CLASH
JOEL WARD v CALLUM HUDSON-ODOI
The veteran Palace defender did very well at Old Trafford last weekend to pocket Marcus Rashford but he faces a different challenge in this one. He will likely be up against a former Chelsea youngster who is looking to get his career back on track and can be a tricky customer.
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Odsonne Edouard (4 – 4th in PL)
- ASSISTS – Jean-Philippe Mateta (3 – 5th in PL)
- PASSES – Joachim Andersen (393)
- TACKLES – Cheick Doucoure (14 – 16th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Joachim Andersen (508)
- SHOTS – Eberechi Eze (27 – 3rd in PL)
- FOULS – Jordan Ayew (13 – 5th in PL)
- DISPOSSESSED – Jordan Ayew (20 – 1st in PL)
- SAVES – Sam Johnstone (15 – 17th in PL)
- CLEARANCES – Joachim Andersen (43 – 2nd in PL)
- BIG CANCES MISSED – Odsonne Edouard/ Jordan Ayew (2)
THE NUMBERS
Palace have never beaten Forest in the Premier League in 6 attempts (D3 L3) – it’s the most they’ve faced a side without winning in the competition.
Forest have won just 1 of their last 14 league away games (D3 L10), though that was against London club Chelsea last month. Forest last won consecutive top-flight visits to the capital in January/March 1997 (against West Ham and Tottenham).
Palace manager Roy Hodgson will take charge of his 400th Premier League game in this match, the eighth manager to reach this milestone. Of the previous seven, only Sam Allardyce lost his 400th match (W4 D2).
Three of Forest’s 8 Premier League goals this season (37.5%) have been scored by substitutes, as many sub goals as they netted in the competition last season (3/38 – 7.9%).
TEB PREDICTION
Both teams have a growing injury list so will likely be thankful for the upcoming international break that takes place after this fixture. For Palace, the news of Eze going down with an injury and facing a spell on the side-lines was the last things fans wanted to hear. You could argue, the talent that is in the treatment room has more about them than the crop of players Roy Hodgson has at his disposal this weekend. A point from this will be a good point with the hope of the injury list diminishing after the international break.
FINAL SCORE: 1-1
