The Eagles return to action after three weeks without a game other than a hastily arranged friendly against Norwegian outfit Bodo/Glimt, as the games now come thick and fast with three games in a week to navigate.
MATCH INFORMATION
- 3pm – 30th March 2024
- City Ground, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 5FJ
PREVIOUS MEETING
The first visit for Palace to the City Ground for some time ended in defeat for the Eagles. A penalty miss from Wilfried Zaha before the half time interval gave the hosts all the encouragement they needed and a goal from Morgan Gibbs-White sealed all three much needed points for Forest.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Morgan Gibbs-White (7.5)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Simon Bennett, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Leigh Doughty. VAR: Tony Harrington. Assistant VAR: Natalie Aspinall
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Cheick Doucoure, Rob Holding, Marc Guehi, Michael Olise, Matheus Franca, Sam Johnstone, and Jesurun, Rak-Sakyi are all expected to miss out while Jeffrey Schlupp is a doubt.
FOREST– Olaoluwa Aina, Taiwo Awoniyi, Chris Wood and Willy Boly are doubts while Nuno Tavares and Gonzalo Montiel are unavailable.
DISCIPLINARY RECORD
RED CARDS – Jordan Ayew (1), Willy Boly (1), Moussa Niakhate (1)
YELLOW CARDS (6+) – Morgan Gibbs-White (7), Jefferson Lerma (7), Jordan Ayew (6), Ibrahim Sangare (6)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 07/10/23 Palace 0-0 Forest
- 28/05/23 Palace 1-1 Forest
- 12/11/22 Forest 1-0 Palace
- 29/12/12 Forest 2-2 Palace
- 18/09/12 Palace 1-1 Forest
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 09/03/24 Palace 1-1 Luton
- 02/03/24 Spurs 3-1 Palace
- 24/02/24 Palace 3-0 Burnley
- 21/02/24 Everton 1-1 Palace
- 12/02/24 Palace 1-3 Chelsea
Last FIVE results for Forest;
- 16/03/24 Luton 1-1 Forest
- 10/03/24 Brighton 1-0 Forest
- 02/03/24 Forest 0-1 Liverpool
- 28/02/24 Forest 0-1 Manchester United
- 24/02/24 Villa 4-2 Forest
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 14th in the Premier League with 29 points from 28 games played, while Forest have 21 from 29 played.
RECORD AGAINST FOREST
- Played 66
- Won 16
- Drawn 21
- Lost 29
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Michael Olise 7.54
- Eberechi Eze 7.24
- Morgan Gibbs-White 6.91
- Willy Boly 6.86
ONE TO WATCH
MORGAN GIBBS-WHITE
FORMER CLUBS – Wolverhampton Wanderers, Swansea City (loan), Sheffield United (loan)
It is perhaps the obvious choice especially as he scored the winner the last time Palace made the trip to Nottingham, but the 24-year-old is the players that drives this team forward and the one that fans hope will drag them to safety this season.
KEY CLASH
JEAN-PHILIPPE MATETA v MURILLO
The French striker has been in fine form of late and will be looked to his goal tally in an effort to try and reach double figures for the season. He will be up against a surprise star for Forest this season, Brazilian central defender Murillo.
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Edouard, Eze, Olise (6)
- ASSISTS – Ayew (6)
- PASSES – Andersen (1583)
- TACKLES – Mitchell (77 – 5th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Andersen (1964)
- SHOTS – Eze (55)
- FOULS – Ayew (41– 7th in PL)
- DISPOSSESSED – Ayew (70– 1st in PL)
- SAVES – Johnstone (41)
- CLEARANCES – Andersen (137– 2nd in PL)
- BIG CHANCES MISSED – Edouard (5)
THE NUMBERS
Forest are unbeaten in their 7 Premier League meetings with Palace. It is the most times they have faced a side without losing and the most times the Eagles have played an opponent without winning in the competition.
Palace have won just 1 of their past 12 league games against Forest – a 1-0 victory at the City Ground in the Championship in December 2011.
The Eagles are without a win in their past 8 league away games, their longest such run since a 10-match streak between May and December 2017.
Palace have conceded more goals in the final 5 minutes of Premier League games this season than any other side (14), including in their past 2matches against Tottenham and Luton Town.
Forest striker Chris Wood is 1 goal away from scoring 10 in the Premier League this season, and he has netted 6 goals in his past 7 games in the competition. It would be the fifth time he has reached double figures since 2017-18 and he would become the seventh player to do so after Mohamed Salah (7), Son Heung-min (7), Harry Kane (6), Jamie Vardy (5), Raheem Sterling (5) and Sadio Mane (5).
Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta has been involved in 3 goals in his past 4 league appearances (2 goals, 1 assist), as many as in his previous 18. His 5 goals this season already equals his most in a campaign in the competition in 2021-22.
TEB PREDICTION
After such a break, it is difficult to judge how Palace come out of it – hopefully refreshed and raring to go! However, the landscape has changing in between time for the hosts who have suffered a points deduction which makes their position in the Premier League much more precarious than it was. Just like the last game against Luton, this is a game that the Eagles need to hold the opposition at arms length in terms of league position and by that we mean a game not to lose and give them any impetus.
FINAL SCORE: 1-1
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