Nottingham Forest vs Bristol City; Sky Bet Championship
Nottingham Forest vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
The City GroundAttendance28,922.
Nottingham Forest vs Bristol City preview
Friday 18 January 2019 10:43, UK
Martin O'Neill will take charge of Nottingham Forest for the first time against Bristol City.
He could yet be joined by Roy Keane, who was O'Neill's number two when he was in charge of the Republic of Ireland. The Reds' new boss will be without suspended duo Dan Fox and Tendayi Darikwa for the game.
Fox picked up a one-match suspension after being sent off for two bookable offences in the 2-0 defeat at Reading, while Darikwa received a three-match ban for a straight red card in the same game.
New Bristol City signing Kasey Palmer could be pushing for a starting place after scoring as a substitute on his debut in a 2-1 win over Bolton. Palmer joined on loan from Chelsea for the remainder of the season after a temporary spell at Blackburn was cut short.
Eros Pisano has not featured since Boxing Day with an adductor strain and is unlikely to feature against Forest. Matty Taylor could feature after being an unused substitute against Bolton.
Opta stats
Nottingham Forest have won once in their last eight league meetings with Bristol City (W1 D2 L5) - the last two games have ended as draws.
Bristol City have won two of their last 27 away visits to Nottingham Forest in all competitions (D9 L16), failing to score in their last two games at the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest manager Martin O'Neill is set to take charge of a second tier match for the first time since May 1996 - a 2-1 play-off final win for Leicester City against Crystal Palace; Matthew Cash, who started Forest's last match, wasn't born when that game was played.
Bristol City have won their last four matches in all competitions - they haven't won five in a row since December 2017, with one of those wins coming against Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest have won just one of their last eight matches in all competitions (D2 L5), a 4-2 win over Leeds on New Year's Day.
Four of Bristol City's last six Championship goals have been headers - only Leeds (12) and Aston Villa (19) have scored more headers than the Robins (11) this season.
Prutton's prediction
David Prutton predicts: 2-0 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
