Overview
Nottingham Forest, returning to the European arena for the first time in 30 years, has soon completed the minimum target by securing a place in the Europa League play-offs. However, their door to the top 8 is becoming fragile after a 0-1 defeat at Braga last week.
Sean Dyche's team went through a nightmare match in Portugal, becoming the second team in Europa League history to lose a match without a shot on target, missed a penalty, conceded an own goal and received a red card. That defeat dragged Forest down to 14th place in the 36-team standings.
Currently, Forest is 3 points behind Real Betis in eighth place and understands that they are forced to defeat Ferencvaros, and are waiting for more supporting results if they want to win a direct ticket to the round of 16. If they only draw or lose, Forest will have to enter the play-offs.
Dyche expects his players to show the "killer instinct" that he believes was absent from Braga, but appeared clearly in the 2-0 victory over Brentford in the Premier League last weekend. This result helped them extend their unbeaten streak in the tournament to 3 matches (2 wins, 1 draw) and create a 5-point gap with the relegation group.
In the Europa League, Forest won 3, drew 2, lost 2 after seven matches, and also showed an impressive face at home with victories against Porto and Malmo.
In the opposite direction, Ferencvaros is one of the only 3 teams in the tournament - along with Freiburg and Viktoria Plzen - still undefeated after 7 group stage matches (4 wins, 3 draws). Entering the final round, fate is in their hands.
The "Green Eagles" are currently seventh, 1 point ahead of Real Betis and Porto, and understand that if they win against Nottingham Forest (who are 4 points behind them), they will secure a straight ticket to the round of 16 for the first time since the 2022-2023 season.
Ferencvaros have successively defeated Rangers, Ludogorets, Red Bull Salzburg and Genk in the Europa League this season. Last week, Robbie Keane's team almost defeated Rafael Benitez's Panathinaikos, but conceded in the 86th minute and only had a 1-1 draw at home.
Last weekend, defending champion Hungary lost to ETO Gyor 1-3 again, being 4 points behind the top team and trying to avoid the first time experiencing 3 consecutive matches without a win in all competitions.
However, winning against Forest is not simple. Ferencvaros has only won 6 out of 20 encounters with English teams (6 draws, 8 losses). And their most recent victory against an English representative was a 3-1 victory over Millwall in the 2004 UEFA Cup.
Personnel situation
Two Nottingham Forest players, Chris Wood and John Victor, are still sidelined due to knee injuries. Meanwhile, Omari Hutchinson, Taiwo Awoniyi and Jair Cunha are not eligible to play because they are not registered for the Europa League.
Midfielder Elliot Anderson was suspended after receiving a red card in the defeat to Braga last week. Douglas Luiz is also said to have agreed to return to Aston Villa.
If Anderson and Luiz are absent, Ryan Yates may be called back to pair with Ibrahim Sangare in midfield. Morgan Gibbs-White will take on the number 10 role, supporting striker Igor Jesus - who scored in the victory against Brentford in the most recent match.
On Ferencvaros' side, Stefan Gartenmann continues to be absent due to injury, while defender Tom Raemaekers is suspended for receiving enough yellow cards.
Krisztian Lisztes has recovered and been on the bench in the last 2 matches, but is likely not yet started. Instead, Jonathan Levi, Julio Romao and Gavriel Kanichowsky are expected to lead the midfield.
Barnabas Varga has scored 20 goals in all competitions this season, including 4 goals after 6 matches in the Europa League, before joining AEK Athens earlier this month. After his departure, Bamidele Yusuf, Kristoffer Zachariassen, Zsombor Gruber and Leny Joseph will compete for two attacking spots.
Expected lineup:
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Savona, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams, Yates, Sangare, Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Jesus.
Grof, Lakatos, Cisse, Szalai, Makreckis, Levi, Romao, Kanichowsky, Cadu, Zachariassen, Bamidele.
The match between Nottingham Forest and Ferencvaros takes place at 3:00 AM on January 30 (Vietnam time).
