FOREST: PREVIEW

Sunderland travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest in the Premier League since 1997. After a hard-fought draw down to ten men against Aston Villa, we should have no reason to not be at least cautiously optimistic we can avoid coming back to the North East empty handed. Here's the key info on our opponents:

FORM

Forest haven’t gotten off to the best of starts, winning just one of their opening five matches in the Premier League (beating Brentford 3-1 at home on the opening day), since then they’ve only mustered up draws away to Crystal Palace and Burnley and lost 3-0 at home to West Ham United and 3-0 away to Arsenal. In the League Cup third round they threw away a two goal lead in second half stoppage time in South Wales against Championship Swansea City but they did pick up a commendable point against Real Betis in the Europa League, their most recent game.

THE MANAGER

60-year-old Ange Postecoglou has been in charge of the Reds for just under three weeks, replacing the sacked Nuno Espirito Santo. He’s managed four games so far, drawing two and losing two and he’ll be keen to get his first win under his belt sooner rather than later. Born in Greece, he moved to Australia as a young child and enjoyed a playing career in Australia’s top flight with South Melbourne before ending his time as a footballer in the lower leagues with Western Suburbs and Stonnington City, also being capped four times for Australia. He later became the man in the dugout for both Western Suburbs and South Melbourne before taking the Australia U17 and then U20 jobs. He then returned to club management with Greek side Panachaiki briefly prior to returning to Australia with Whittlesea Zebras, Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory. Between 2013 and 2017 he managed the Australia national team, winning the AFC Asian Cup in 2015 and taking his country to the 2014 World Cup. Japan was his next destination via a three year spell at Yokohama F. Marinos but his most recent exploits will likely be the most familiar to you. There was a two year spell with Celtic and then an uproarious two years with Tottenham Hotspur. He’s won league titles in his home country, Japan and Scotland and was the first Spurs boss to get his hands on silverware in 17 years when he won last season’s Europa League, before being dismissed anyway for only coming 17th in the top flight. He’s unapologetic, confident and can have a difficult relationship with the media but was proven right when he exclaimed that he always wins something in his second season at a club whilst at Tottenham, a statement that turned out to be true but was widely ridiculed before he won the EL.

KEY PLAYERS

Centre forward Igor Jesus is their top scorer so far, finding the back of the net four times in six appearances. England international Morgan Gibbs-White has been their top playmaker, with two assists in seven matches. 33-year-old Matz Sels is the first choice goalkeeper, he’ll be seeking his first clean sheet of the campaign. New additions in the summer (alongside Jesus) include left winger Dan Ndoye from Bologna, attacking midfielder Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich Town and right wing back Dilane Bakwa from Strasbourg.

THE STADIUM

The City Ground isn’t actually located in Nottingham but rather in the nearby town of West Bridgford in the Borough of Rushcliffe just across the River Trent. Currently the home of both Nottingham Forest’s men’s and women’s teams it first opened in the year 1898 and was a host stadium for the 1996 Euros. 30,404 is its present capacity, making it the sixth smallest in the top flight. Just 300 yards away is the home of Notts County, Meadow Lane, meaning this stadium is part of the two closest professional football grounds in England.

PREDICTION

I’d definitely take a point away from home against Europa League opposition, no matter how poorly they’ve started the season. I’m confident we’ll score, even though we haven’t been fantastic at chance creation on the road thus far, due to the Tricky Trees’ inability to keep clean sheets at the moment. It’s going to be a hard game no doubt but if our newly promoted counterparts in Burnley can get something against them, we should be aiming too as well. I’m going to say 1-1, with us coming back from behind to get a point.