Overview
Nottingham Forest are preparing to enter a new phase under the third coach of the turbulent 2025-2026 season, although the season is not yet in November.
Evangelos Marinakis' decision to sack both Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou within just 6 weeks continued to put the team in crisis.
Postecoglou was brutally dismissed just 18 minutes after a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea. His 39-day reign without a win (2 draws, 6 losses) became the shortest in Premier League history for an official manager.
Currently struggling in the relegation zone with only 5 points, Forest has confirmed the appointment of Sean Dyche as captain, under contract until June 2027. The strategist's urgent task is to prevent a serious decline at City Ground.
Forest have not won in their last 10 matches in all competitions (D3 L7) since a 3-1 victory over Brentford in the opening round of the Premier League. During that time, the Tricky Trees have picked up just one point from two Europa League games, with a 2-2 draw against Real Betis and a 2-3 home defeat to FC Midtjylland.
Except for qualifiers, Dyche is preparing to have his first match in the European arena as head coach. He hopes to make an immediate mark on the coaching bench. Especially since Forest have lost 4 consecutive matches at City Ground, not scoring any goals and conceding 3 goals per match.
While Nottingham Forest are in a form crisis, Porto entered this match in high spirits after an impressive start to the season. They have won 10 and drawn 1 of their 11 games in all competitions, scoring 2 or more goals in 8 matches.
Francesco Farioli's team is currently leading the Primeira Liga rankings, three points ahead of the second-placed team. Despite being held to a goalless draw by Benfica in the Portuguese derby before the international break, they quickly regained their form with a 4-0 away win over Celoricense.
Young star Samuhe Aghowa scored a hat-trick in 10 minutes in the second half, bringing his total goals this season to 8 after 9 appearances. However, the striker has yet to score in the Europa League, where Porto won 1-0 against Red Bull Salzburg and 2-1 against Red Star Belgrade in the opening two matches.
With the goal of winning all 3 opening matches in the European Cup for the first time since the 2012-13 season, Porto is full of confidence traveling to City Ground. They have won all 6 away matches this season, scoring 16 goals and conceding only 1.
However, Forest may still find some hope in the past. Porto have won just 10 of their 49 meetings with English sides (D12 L27), and have had just one away win - against Chelsea in April 2021 in the Champions League (1-0).
Personnel situation
Nottingham Forest entered the match against Porto with the only injury concern being Ola Aina. The retired right-back is recovering from hamstring surgery.
In addition, Taiwo awoniyi, Omari Hutchinson, Jair Cunha and Angus Gunn are all not eligible to compete in the Europa League due to not being on the registration list.
On the opposite side, Porto continues to be without Luuk de Jong and Nehuen Perez due to knee ligament injuries. In addition, Tomas Perez and Yann Karamoh were also not registered to compete in the Europa League.
Francesco Farioli is expected to use the strongest possible formation, with the defense including Jan Bednarek, Jakub Kiwior, Alberto Costa and Francisco Moura.
Expected lineup:
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Zinchenko, Ndoye, Yates, Anderson, Hudson- Odoi, Gibbs-White, Wood.
Porto: D. Costa, A. Costa, Bednarek, Kiwior, Moura, Froholdt, Varela, Veiga, Pepe, Samu, Sainz.
The match between Nottingham Forest and Porto takes place at 2:00 am on October 24 (Vietnam time).
