Nottingham Forest vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
The City GroundAttendance29,397.
Friday 8 March 2019 12:44, UK
Nottingham Forest manager Martin O'Neill will not take any chances with the fitness of striker Lewis Grabban ahead of the visit of Hull.
Grabban, who has missed Forest's last two games, has responded well to the latest injection for his Achilles injury but is unlikely to be risked on Saturday.
Matty Cash has also struggled with an Achilles problem recently and although he did not train on Thursday, O'Neill hopes the midfielder will be available. On-loan defender Sam Byram is edging closer to a return to action after suffering serious knee ligament damage in August.
Hull manager Nigel Adkins has a near full-strength squad to choose from for the trip to the City Ground. Defenders Jordy De Wijs and Eric Lichaj have been passed fit despite being forced off in the latter stages of the 2-0 win over Birmingham.
Midfielder Daniel Batty remains sidelined following a back injury but is "progressing well" according to Adkins. Long-term absentee James Weir was due to join in with training on Friday.
Nottingham Forest have lost their last five home league matches against Hull, a run stretching back to March 2011.
Hull haven't lost consecutive league matches against Nottingham Forest since December 1974.
Nottingham Forest haven't lost six consecutive home league games against an opponent in their history - they've also five in a row against West Brom between 1925 and 1930.
Nigel Adkins has won three of his last four away league matches against Nottingham Forest (L1), winning with three different teams (Southampton, Reading and Hull) against three different managers (Cotterill, Davies and Karanka).
Martin O'Neill has won his last four league matches against Hull - in six previous league meetings, he has seen his sides keep five clean sheets.
Hull striker Jarrod Bowen has scored 18 goals in the Championship this season, and could become the first player to net 20+ goals in a single league campaign for the club since Abel Hernández in 2015-16 (21).
It really has been a case of one step forward and one step back for Nottingham Forest this season. They beat Derby one week then go to Stoke and lose the next. They have won back-to-back games just once and that is why they currently find themselves on the outside of the play-offs looking in.
These two sides head into the weekend level on points and this is a tough one to predict so I'm going to sit on the fence and go for a draw.
David Prutton predicts: 1-1 (11/2 with Sky Bet)
