Football

Nottingham Forest vs Brighton Predicted Lineups: Will Evan Ferguson Return For The Seagulls?

April 26, 2023 11:35 am
Nottingham Forest vs Brighton Predicted Lineups: Will Evan Ferguson Return For The Seagulls?
Brighton and Hove, England, 18th October 2022. Nottingham Forest and Brighton players talk with referee Darren England after a challenge on Ryan Yates of Nottingham Forest during the Premier League match at the AMEX Stadium, Brighton and Hove. Picture credit should read: Paul Terry / Sportimage - Photo by Icon sport

Nottingham Forest welcome Brighton to the City Ground on Wednesday night in a game that presents the home side with an opportunity to climb out of the bottom three with a win. Forest have been on a dismal run of form recently and haven’t won any of their last eleven games. It’s a sequence of results that has left Steve Cooper hanging on to his job by a thread.

Last time out against Liverpool, Forest at least showed some fighting spirit and were unlucky not to leave Anfield with a point after twice levelling the scoreline against the resurgent Reds. Cooper will be hoping that similar performance tonight will result in more points on the board.

For Brighton, they are playing catch-up with the rest of the Premier League as they are the only side still on 29 games played. They will be looking to put Sunday’s penalty shootout loss to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals firmly behind them and continue with their quest for European football next season.

The match is set to kick off at 19:30 UK time and viewers will be able to watch the match live on BT Sport.

Nottingham Forest Team News: Long injury list continues to hamper Steve Cooper

There haven’t been many teams in English football this season who have had as many injuries as Nottingham Forest and their injury list doesn’t seem to be getting any shorter. The fact that they have such a big squad is arguably the only reason that they are still within touching distance of the teams above them in the Premier League table.

As things stand, Cooper is without 11 first team players with only two of them, Cheikhou Kouyate and Serge Aurier, close to returning. Before the game against Brighton, the Forest boss gave an update on the pair, saying:

“Cheikhou and Serge are not far off being back in full training with the group. They’re not quite ready yet as they are in the back end of their recovery.”

With no players returning, Cooper may well be tempted to go with the same 11 that fought so brilliantly at Anfield. The only change he may consider will be bringing Brennan Johnson back in the team after the Welshman was demoted to the bench at the weekend. For most of the season, Johnson has been Forest’s biggest threat and you would think they will need him if they are to beat the drop.

Brighton Team News: Is Evan Ferguson fit to play?

Brighton are also facing a number of injury issues themselves and will be without at least six players for the visit to Nottingham on Wednesday night. Evan Ferguson, who has rejected Manchester United to sign a new deal at the Amex, won’t be risked by while Lallana, Sarmiento, Lamptey and Moder will all be missing from the squad to face Forest.

One man who is in a race against time to be fit for the game is Danny Welbeck. The striker went down injured against Manchester United on Sunday and may only be fit enough for a place on the bench. Speaking about Welbeck and Ferguson on Tuesday, Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi said:

“It is too early to think of the first XI, we will see tomorrow. Welbeck there is a problem for tomorrow but with Ferguson, I don’t want to take a risk. We have another nine games and maybe he can be important for the last eight.”

After playing 120 minutes on Sunday, De Zerbi may well have some fitness concerns too. One player who he has confirmed will start the game, however, is Solly March who missed the only penalty of the shootout at Wembley.

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