England

Nottingham Forest & West Brom Aim For Strong Start

The Championship season is set to get underway tonight, but beyond that, we’re already interested in what is going to happen tomorrow as the majority of clubs kick things off with a good old fashioned Saturday afternoon encounter. Two such teams that fall into such a category are Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion. While nobody knows for sure what to expect from all 24 teams at this stage, we think it’s safe to say that both Forest and West Brom are going to be in the mix by the time we get around to the final few months of the season.

Nottingham Forest are coming off the back of a relatively strong season, in which they finished down in ninth place. They wound up being just eight points off the pace of bitter rivals Derby County, who managed to sneak into that final playoff spot in sixth. In terms of team news for them heading into this one, Yuri Ribeiro is expected to feature as a makeshift right back due to Darikwa’s injury. Benalouane is still suspended following his red card at the end of last season, with Tiago Silva and Alfa Semedo being tipped to make their debuts – in addition to Albert Adomah.

West Bromwich Albion are desperate to get back into the big time, and they came close to doing so last season when they finished in fourth place in the Championship. They were beaten in their playoff semi-final by rivals Aston Villa, who wound up gaining promotion courtesy of a win over Derby in the final at Wembley. For this game, Kieran Gibbs’ fitness has been questioned after he picked up a knock in pre-season, although he is still expected to feature. Livermore and Robson-Kanu will both miss this game due to suspension, with Krovinovic and Sawyers being tipped to feature.

Nottingham Forest vs West Bromwich Albion Betting Prediction

There have been enough changes at The Hawthorns to make us think that they could struggle to make an impact straight away in the new Championship campaign. This is going to be a really intriguing game to measure where both teams are at this season, and if we’re forced for a prediction, we’d have to say that Nottingham Forest are the favourites in our eyes. They’re going to be at home, they seem to have a more complete squad, and it just seems like the natural next step in their evolution as a club.