Leeds v Nottingham Forest: Team news and confirmed line-ups for crunch Premier League clash
Leeds host Nottingham Forest tonight. Get all the team news here...
Leeds and Nottingham Forest meet tonight in a match that could have huge ramifications in the battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
The clubs occupy the final two places above the relegation zone. They are level on 26 points – six ahead of third-bottom West Ham – with the West Yorkshire club ahead on goals scored.
West Ham’s results and performances have improved in recent weeks with wins against Tottenham and Sunderland giving them renewed belief and the loser tonight, if there is one, will be a nervous onlooker as the Hammers visit doomed Burnley tomorrow.
Both these clubs come into the game on the back of a disappointing result. Leeds were swept aside 4-0 by leaders Arsenal while Forest were held to a 1-1 draw at home to slumping Crystal Palace. The frustration for Sean Dyche and his players was that they were leading 1-0 and looking good until the dismissal of left-back Neco Williams for handball on the stroke of half-time.
Forest have been better away from the City Ground this season, winning four times, at Liverpool, Wolves, West Ham and Brentford.
Table of Contents
Leeds Team News v Nottingham Forest
Daniel Farke makes just one change to the team beaten by Arsenal with Noah Okafor replacing the injured Anton Stach. Dan James has overcome a hamstring problem to start on the bench.
Leeds: Darlow; Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmundsson, Justin; Ampadu, Gruev, Aaronson, Okafor; Calvert-Lewin
Subs: Perri, Bijol, Bornauw, Longstaff, Tanaka, James, Gnonto, Nmecha, Piroe
Nottingham Forest Team News v Leeds
Matz Sels misses out due to a groin injury, meaning a debut for Stefan Ortega in goal. Fellow January arrivals Luca Netz and Lorenzo Lucca are on the bench but there is no Murillo in the matchday squad.
Williams is suspended so Zach Abbott starts at left-back.
Nottingham Forest: Ortega; Aina, Morato, Milenkovic, Abbott; Sangare, Dominguez, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Jesus
Subs: Gunn, Awoniyi, Ndoye, Lucca, Hutchinson, Yates, Jair Cunha, McAtee, Netz
Leeds v Forest: TV channel, online live streams
Kick-off on Friday is at 20:00 GMT (15:00 ET / 12:00 PT), with live coverage in the UK on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Ultra.
Via Now TV, Sky Sports costs £14.99 for a day membership, £28 a month for a 12-month membership or £34.99 a month with no contract.
Sky Sports memberships include access to all 12 live Sky Sports channels and Sky Sports+, which offers live streams and a dedicated channel.
Streaming is available on a vast variety of devices via the Sky GO app.
Leeds v Nottingham Forest stats
- Leeds have won their last three Premier League home games against Nottingham Forest (1996, 1999 and 2023) and scored in each of their 25 top-flight home matches in the fixture
- Farke’s side have won all four of their Premier League night matches at Elland Road this season (19:30 or later), most recently beating Palace 4-1 in December
- Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored nine Premier League goals this season, only twice before reaching double figures in a single campaign (13 in 2019/20, 16 in 2020/21)
- The last Englishman to score 10 league goals in their first season with Leeds was Matt Smith in 2013/14 (12 in the Championship)
- Only Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister (31) has had more shots without scoring than Leeds’ Pascal Struijk (22) in the division this season, with Struijk accumulating the highest expected goals total without a goal so far (2.32)
- After a run of six defeats in seven Premier League games across October and November (W1), Leeds have lost two of their last 11 since the start of December (W3 D6)
- Forest are looking to complete a league double over Leeds for the first time since 2013/14, and for just the second time ever in the top-flight, after 1995/96
- They have lost one of their last 15 Premier League games against promoted sides (W9 D5), suffering a 1-0 home defeat against Sunderland earlier this season
- An unbeaten run in their last four Premier League games (W2 D2) is their longest sequence without defeat this season, last going longer between December and January last season (8)
- Only bottom side Wolves (6.7%) have a lower shot conversion rate than Nottingham Forest in the Premier League this season (8.5%). Forest ranked joint-6th in that respect in the competition last season (12.5%)
- Morgan Gibbs-White has either scored (3) or assisted (1) a goal in four of his last five Premier League appearances, as well as scoring Forest’s winner against Leeds in November