Match Preview: Nottingham Forest v Brentford | OneFootball

The wait is over! Brentford return to Premier League action against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Sunday (2pm kick-off BST).

The Bees were victorious on their last visit to Nottingham - Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa on target in a 2-0 win.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know before Keith Andrews’ first competitive game in charge, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

Pre-match Analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Brentford must find a way to penetrate one of the Premier League’s meanest backlines

Nuno Espírito Santo’s Nottingham Forest host Brentford in Gameweek One of the 2025/26 Premier League this Sunday - and the Bees must crack the code to unlock one of the top flight’s meanest defences.

One of six players to play every minute last term, along with Brentford's newly named captain Nathan Collins, Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels kept an impressive 13 Premier League clean sheets last season as the upwardly mobile Midlanders launched an unlikely challenge for a Champions League spot.

They may have narrowly missed out on a top four finish, but Forest enjoyed an outstanding season and a quick look at their regimen this summer shows that Espírito Santo’s side have lost none of their defensive resilience - as a whopping five of their seven warm-up games have finished goal-less!

Forest’s no-frills defensive approach underpinned their push for Europe, and Brentford head coach Keith Andrews - on his Premier League debut as a manager - faces the challenge of finding a way to move the ball into dangerous areas at the City Ground.

Excluding goal kicks, the aforementioned Sels launched a higher percentage of his passes (74 per cent) and threw the ball out on fewer occasions (2.18 per 90) than any keeper in the top tier last term, which contributed to Forest (40.7 per cent) having the third lowest average possession share in the Premier League.

No-nonsense centre-backs Murillo and Nikola Milenković were also excellent last term and Forest's safety-first approach in their own box saw them average an almighty 32.1 clearances per game in 2024/25.

The Bees have looked to develop a more possession-based style to their game over recent seasons and there should be opportunities for the west Londoners to dictate the rhythm and tempo on Sunday.

Last season, no team won more top flight games by a single goal than Forest (12), and the margins are likely to be tight on Sunday - especially given the hosts' pre-season shutouts and the fact Brentford have conceded fewer Premier League away goals (just six!) than any team in 2025.

With fine margins in mind, set-pieces could play a vital role - and both sides posted incredible stats in this respect last season.

In Nikola Milenković, Forest boasted the joint most prolific defender in the Premier League last season and the Serbian's five set-piece strikes, and all-round threat from dead-ball situations, established him as a potent weapon in the armoury of a Forest side who scored more goals (17) from free-kicks, corner-kicks and throw-ins than any other team in the division.

Brentford were hot on Forest's heels from offensive set-pieces, however - bagging 13 goals themselves in this regard - while the Bees conceded just two goals from defensive set-pieces to outshine every other team in the Premier League when it came to negating opponents outside of open play.

To circle back to Forest's preparation games this summer, it is worth noting that The Garibaldis have hit the net just once in seven outings - Chris Wood's consolation in a 3-1 reverse against Fulham the only cause for celebration among Forest fans this pre-season.

The New Zealand international notched an impressive 20 Premier League goals last term, a milestone reached by only four other players (Salah, Isak, Haaland and Mbeumo).

Further, the imposing Kiwi scored the most headers (eight), averaged almost exactly a goal every four shots and scored 34 per cent of Forest's Premier League goals to underline his importance as the focal point of his team's attack.

Shorn of Anthony Elanga and Bryan Mbeumo respectively this Sunday, Forest and Brentford need to find fresh creativity in attack, while keeping it tight at the back, and how to play with risk - at the right times - may be uppermost in Bees head coach Andrews' mind ahead of his Premier League bow.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Positivity aplenty as Forest prepare for historic campaign

Nottingham Forest only took five points from the final five games of 2024/25, which meant a top four Premier League finish that looked nailed on for so long just evaded them at the very end.

There was a gap of just four points to Chelsea and, agonisingly, only one to fifth-placed Newcastle United, who took the final Champions League spot, which meant Nuno Espirito Santo’s side had to settle for a place in the Conference League.

Regardless, after an overall magical season, the Tricky Trees - two-time European Cup winners - had secured European football for the first time since 1995/96, when they reached the UEFA Cup quarter-final under Frank Clark.

But the story did not end there.

Crystal Palace’s FA Cup win earned them a Europa League place, but former shareholder and Lyon owner John Textor missed the deadline to place his shares into a blind trust - and thus circumvent penalties relating to multi-club ownership, with the Ligue 1 club having already qualified for the same tournament.

Owing to their league position (sixth) bettering that of Palace (12th), Lyon took precedence over the Eagles, who appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis - who also owns Olympiakos - sorted his shareholding before the deadline.

On Monday 11 August, CAS rejected the appeal, which means Palace have been demoted to the Conference League and Forest will play in the Europa League next season instead. The south London club are reportedly considering their next legal options.

In the meantime, Marinakis was said to be holding off on the pursuit of several summer transfers until the outcome of the case was revealed - and now the purse strings are set to be well and truly loosened.

The signings of Brazilian pair Igor Jesus and Jair Cunha, and Switzerland forward Dan Ndoye, had reportedly set the club back just shy of £55 million and, at the time of writing, a move for James McAtee from Man City is edging closer, while interest in Omari Hutchinson remains.

Monaco’s Soungoutou Magassa and Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas have also been linked in recent days, but tying down Morgan Gibbs-White to a new three-year contract, after reported interest from Tottenham Hotspur, will likely prove just as important as any new additions, such is his influence.

It is worth noting that adding another competition to an already busy schedule can sometimes have an adverse impact on clubs, hence why there are currently similar prices for Forest to finish in the top six (8/1) and get relegated back to the Championship (17/2). That is a conversation for a few months’ time, though.

With the ink dry on the CAS ruling, there is positivity aplenty as Forest begin their fourth straight season in the Premier League - their longest streak to date - and prepare for those long-awaited Thursday nights under the lights in Europe.

In the Dugout

Nuno Espírito Santo

Once signed by José Mourinho during his time at Porto, Nuno Espírito Santo had a long career as a goalkeeper - though often played second fiddle - primarily spent in Portugal and Spain, with time in Russia at Dynamo Moscow during 2005 and 2006.

Nuno retired in 2010, after his second spell at Porto, but quickly went on to become a goalkeeper coach at Malaga, then Panathinaikos, working with his former manager Jesualdo Ferreira each time.

He returned to Portugal to take on his first managerial role with Rio Ave in the summer of 2012 and remained at the club for two years.

He was then hired by Valencia, whom he guided to a fourth-place finish in La Liga in 2014/15, though he resigned less than four months into the following campaign after three defeats in their first five Champions League group matches, as well as five wins from the first 13 league matches, which left them languishing in ninth when he departed.

Porto decided to take a chance on their former player in 2016/17, yet he only saw out half of his two-year deal as the club opted to replace him the following summer after he failed to deliver silverware, despite losing only six of his 49 games in charge.

The 51-year-old is perhaps best known for the four years he spent at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He joined the club at the end of a chaotic 2016/17 campaign - during which they had three permanent managers - and led them to promotion out of the Championship at the first time of asking.

In 2019/20, Wolves recorded their joint-highest Premier League finish (seventh), their highest points tally (59), as well as reaching the quarter-final of the Europa League.

Having left Molineux by mutual consent in June 2021, Nuno went to Tottenham Hotspur and started well with three straight Premier League wins. But he lasted only four months in the job, having followed up those victories with five defeats across the next seven.

He then spent 16 months in Saudi Arabia, guiding Al Ittihad to the Saudi Pro League title and Saudi Super Cup, and returned to England to take the job at Forest just before Christmas 2023, having been sacked little over a month earlier.

On 21 June, Nuno signed a contract running until the summer of 2028.

The Gameplan

With Joseph Chapman, Nottinghamshire Live

Nottinghamshire Live’s Joseph Chapman explains how Nuno Espírito Santo is likely to set up his Nottingham Forest side for Sunday’s Premier League opener against Brentford.

“They are pretty settled really in a 4-2-3-1,” said Chapman.

“The introduction of Jesus is quite interesting because he is somebody who you could see being utilised as a striker and they could end up being 4-4-2 when they are in attack, then he drops a little bit deeper, just behind Wood, when they are out of possession.

“That is the way they were playing previously.”

Previous starting XI v Al Qadasiya: Sels; Aina, Murillo, Milenković, Williams; Ndoye, Anderson, Yates, Hudson-Odoi; Wood, Jesus

Read our interview with Joseph Chapman here

Match Officials

Bankes set to referee Brentford’s Premier League opener

Referee: Peter Bankes

Assistants: Edward Smart and Blake Antrobus

Fourth official: Craig Pawson

VAR: Andrew Madley

Peter Bankes will referee Sunday’s game at the City Ground.

Bankes officiated 31 matches last term, showing 121 yellow cards and three reds.

Bankes took charge of three Brentford fixtures during the 2024/25 campaign, the most recent of which a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United in April.

Last Meeting

Nottingham Forest 0 Brentford 2 (Premier League, 1 May 2025)

A goal in each half secured Brentford an impressive 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

The first came courtesy of Kevin Schade. A wonderful pass over the top from Nathan Collins was picked up by the chasing forward inside the area, who beat Ola Aina to the ball and poked past Matz Sels to put the visitors ahead.

Brentford doubled their lead with 20 minutes to go. In a similar vein to the first goal, Mark Flekken launched a ball over the top for Yoane Wissa, who controlled and superbly chipped over the goalkeeper, before wheeling away to celebrate with the travelling fans.