Two teams seeking distractions from dismal starts to their respective league campaigns do battle in the EFL Cup on Tuesday as Nottingham Forest play host to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The hosts claimed a 2-1 win over Bradford City to advance to the second round, whereas Bruno Lage will take charge of his first cup encounter for the visitors.
Match preview
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Forest may have scraped past Bradford in the first round of the EFL Cup earlier this month, but that is all that Chris Hughton's men have had to shout about following a horror start to their 2021-22 Championship campaign.
Four consecutive defeats to Coventry City, Blackburn Rovers, Bournemouth and Stoke City have left Forest rooted to the bottom of the table as the only side yet to pick up a single point in the season, and they are certainly not guaranteed any form of success in next weekend's battle with Derby County.
Last time out, Josh Tymon's 66th-minute winner for Stoke stretched Hughton's side's winless run in the Championship to 10 matches - as well as representing their fifth consecutive loss in the second tier - but the return of a certain Manchester United loanee should bring a much-needed injection of optimism.
Indeed, James Garner has returned to the club after firing in four goals from 20 Championship outings last term, and the 20-year-old would do well to pick up where he left off at Forest, especially with the pressure weighing greater on Hughton's shoulders with each passing defeat.
Forest have at least managed to progress further than they did in the 2020-21 EFL Cup - where they suffered a first-round defeat to Barnsley - and they have only been dumped out in the second round once since 2010, losing 4-1 to Wigan Athletic at this stage in the 2012-13 season.
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Carrying on the theme from their final game of pre-season - a 1-0 defeat to Celta Vigo - Wolves have been sunk by a goal to nil in their two Premier League opening encounters with Champions League-chasing Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
With Harry Kane watching on from the bench as Santo returned to the ground he brought European football to, Dele Alli calmly rolled the ball home from the penalty spot in the ninth minute, and Wolves had no answer for the remainder of the 90 minutes.
Zero points from a possible six is hardly the ideal way to kick off a new reign in management, but the calibre of Wolves' opponents must be taken into account, and the fixtures do not get easier as Manchester United lie in wait for Lage's men on August 29.
Furthermore, with only 48 hours in between the visit of Spurs and the trip to the City Ground, Lage's man-management will be put to the test to the extreme as Wolves bid to avoid a repeat of their 2020-21 fortunes, where Stoke City sent them packing in round two.
Forest did manage to prevail 2-0 against Wolves at Molineux during the 2017-18 Championship season, but the Premier League side are unbeaten in four at the City Ground and have come up trumps in three of those second-tier encounters.
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Team News
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Forest's treatment room remains well-occupied at the minute, with Jordan Osei-Tutu (hamstring), Joe Worrall (calf), Joe Lolley (illness), and Loic Mbe Soh (groin) still absent.
Right-back Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel will be available after serving a suspension against Stoke, but 18-year-old Fin Back will hope to hold his place in the first XI for now.
With reversing their Championship fortunes around surely the main priority at the minute, Hughton may be tempted to freshen the team up with the likes of Garner, Brennan Johnson and Lewis Grabban in midweek.
Wolves remain rather thin on the ground due to injuries, with Jonny, Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto long-term absentees while Yerson Mosquera, Hugo Bueno and Willy Boly are all battling hamstring problems.
Given the extremely quick turnaround in fixtures, it would be a surprise to see Lage field any of the starting XI from Sunday from the first whistle here, with the changes potentially starting with John Ruddy replacing Jose Sa in goal.
Ki-Jana Hoever, Fabio Silva, Rayan Ait Nouri and Leander Dendoncker are some the recognised names who should feature from the off here, while teenagers Chem Campbell and Luke Cundle could earn some minutes in the engine room.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Horvath; Back, Figueiredo, Harbottle, Bong; Garner, Colback; Zinckernagel, Johnson, Mighten; Grabban
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Marques, Saiss, Nya; Hoever, Dendoncker, Gibbs-White, Ait Nouri; Harkin, Silva, Campbell
We say: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
A full-strength Wolves should have no problem sweeping an out-of-sorts Forest aside, but Lage will be forced into practically a full team of alterations following Sunday's battle with Spurs.
The hosts have injury and morale issues of their own to contend with, though, and with Wolves likely to call upon the cavalry from the bench if needed, we still expect Lage's side to pull through.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Wolverhampton Wanderers win with a probability of 38.46%. A win for Nottingham Forest had a probability of 35.29% and a draw had a probability of 26.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wolverhampton Wanderers win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.78%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.39%) and 0-2 (6.57%). The likeliest Nottingham Forest win was 1-0 (9.28%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.48%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Wolverhampton Wanderers would win this match.
