Nottingham Forest will have a well-rested starting XI as Nuno Espirito Santo is likely to make 11 changes for the Premier League match against Liverpool.
With just one injury in the squad, Forest head into their match against Liverpool in a strong position.
Only Ibrahim Sangare will be missing from the matchday squad, with the midfielder a long-term absentee due to surgery on a hamstring tear in early September.
He is only now returning to individual training on the grass.
There are no other particular fitness worries for Espirito Santo, who is expected to make 11 changes from his side that beat Luton 2-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Ahead of the Liverpool game, the coach said they are still “assessing players” but there are no “major issues.”
Like Arne Slot‘s team, Forest have a three-day turnaround and Espirito Santo even admitted on Monday lunchtime that he ‘still doesn’t know his game plan and is still to work on it.’
While the likelihood is that the manager returns to the side that beat Wolves 3-0 away in their last Premier League match, there is a chance Forest line up even more defensively than usual, as we saw at Anfield.
The above team is the most probable XI, with James Ward-Prowse and Ryan Yates the most likely of the usual substitutes to get a game.
Predicted Forest XI: Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Dominguez, Anderson; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
10 changes for Liverpool?
Joe Gomez and Darwin Nunez are Liverpool’s only players missing for this game, through injury and suspension respectively.
Like with Forest, we can predict the Reds’ team based on who played against Accrington Stanley on Saturday.
Given none of Andy Robertson, Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz played, while Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones, Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo didn’t even make the squad, they should all start.
Aside from Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai is the only man who started in the FA Cup who has a shout of making the team.
Though the match is at the City Ground, Liverpool should have plenty of possession and will have to work hard to break the hosts down.
Jones may be better placed to help creatively than Szoboszlai, but Liverpool did miss the No. 8’s running power against Tottenham and Man United.
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