Premier League: Forest Out to Exploit the Weakened Bees

Nottingham Forest vs Brentford

Nottingham Forest will commence their 2025-26 campaign against Brentford at City Ground this Sunday, and Nuno Espirito Santo is keen to give new manager Keith Andrews a rude welcome to the Premier League.

After finishing seventh in the English top-flight standings last term, Nottingham Forest are back in European competition for the first time since 1995-96. The Tricky Trees were in the Top 4 for much of the campaign but fell away from the Champions League race after a drop in form in the final set of games.

Meanwhile, Brentford have undergone drastic changes in the past few months. Thomas Frank has left to join Tottenham, and the club appointed Keith Andrews as Frank’s replacement. Andrews, who had played in the Premier League, was the Bees’ set-piece coach and was promoted to the position last June. The Bees may be the underdogs this weekend, but they’ll look to put up a fight against Nottingham Forest on the road.

 

Talking Points

Nottingham Forest will stick to the same formula

Nottingham Forest surprised everyone when they qualified for European football, and Nuno Espirito Santo’s men did so through their solid defence and superb counterattack. 

Matz Sels was last year’s joint-winner of the Premier League Golden Glove award for recording 13 clean sheets. In front of Sels is the no-nonsense centre-half duo of Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo, who averaged a whopping 32.1 clearances per game last term. Nottingham Forest were also fantastic in set-pieces, as they scored the most league goals (17) from free-kicks, corners, and throw-ins last season.

Chris Wood was a frontrunner in the Golden Boot race with 20 league goals and three assists, with Morgan Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga behind him with seven and six goals. Nottingham Forest cashed in on Elanga, whom they sold to Newcastle United this summer for around €61 million.

In return, they acquired Dan Ndoye from Bologna and Igor Jesus from Botafogo for €53 million. Tottenham heavily pursued Gibbs-White, but the Tricky Trees blocked the move. And according to reports, they are close to acquiring James McAtee from Manchester City for £30 million.

 

Wissa unavailable for Brentford

Brentford have been active sellers this offseason, so head coach Keith Andrews inherits a weaker squad compared to last season. The Bees sold Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Norgaard, and Mark Flekken to Manchester United, Arsenal, and Bayer Leverkusen, respectively, recouping around €99 million. In return, they acquired Jordan Henderson on a free transfer and Michael Kayode and Antoni Milambo for roughly €38 million.

​Yoane Wissa was supposed to fill the void left by Mbeumo, but the DR Congo international wants out of the squad. Wissa, who scored 19 league goals last season, is omitted from the matchday squad against Nottingham Forest amid transfer speculation involving Newcastle United.

​Mbeumo’s departure and Wissa’s disenchantment with the team should open up new opportunities for Kevin Schade, who was the Bees’ third-leading scorer with 11 league goals and two assists.

 

History

Nottingham Forest have only won one of their last eight league games against Brentford (D3, L4), a 2-0 win at the Gtech Community Stadium in December last season. The Tricky Trees haven’t won their opening league match in the last seven seasons (D2, L5) since a 1-0 result over Millwall in the 2017-18 Championship campaign.

Brentford have lost only two of their last 10 away league games against Nottingham Forest (W6, D2). The Bees are also undefeated in their last four visits to City Ground (W2, D2) and have never lost their opening game in their last four Premier League campaigns (W2, D2), scoring exactly two goals in each match.

Brentford won 2-0 against Nottingham Forest in their most recent league meeting last May, as Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa had two unanswered goals.

 

Betting Tip

The Premier League 2025 odds expect Nottingham Forest to beat Brentford, but their margin for error is not as big as expected. The hosts have the slight edge at 2.13, whereas Brentford aren’t far behind at 3.14, and a draw is at 3.18 in the 1X2 market.

There should be enough goals and Premier League 2025 highlights to go by in this contest. Besides our recommended bet above, SBOTOP bettors can also add Total Goal 2-3 at 1.98, Over 2.25 at 1.68, Over 2.50 at 1.96, and Over 2.75 at 2.19 to the parlay for diversity. Furthermore, a Correct Score of 2-0 in favour of the Bees – the result of their most recent meeting – could yield a handsome payday of 18.50 your bet.

   

●●●

CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS

Stay updated with everything sports and betting.

Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.