Struggling Huddersfield face tricky trip to Nottingham

Play-off bound Forest will be expecting to get back to winning ways when they face relegation-threatened Huddersfield Town in Nottingham on Sunday afternoon.

The clash should also have plenty of spice, despite an empty City Ground, following Huddersfield’s antics in the reverse fixture.

Where they stand

The hosts currently sit fifth in the Championship table and have looked destined to finish the season in the playoffs for a while.

The Reds are four points clear of seventh with eight games to play and have been out of the automatic promotion race since before coronavirus struck.

Huddersfield, on the other hand, have had a disastrous return to the Championship and are mired in a desperate battle to avoid another relegation, to League One.

Danny Cowley’s men come into the weekend two places and one point above the dreaded drop zone.

But both sides come into this game in need of a win, as Forest (1-4-2) and Huddersfield (2-1-4) have each picked up only seven points in their last seven matches either side of the long break.

Banners adorn the Trent End ready for Forest’s first home game behind closed doors (credit: NFFC)

Things could get feisty between the two sets of players too, following a heated clash in Yorkshire at Christmas.

In edging a 2-1 victory, the Terriers employed every trick in the book to waste time, break the game up and generally unsettle their high-flying opponents.

Excessive physicality on the pitch, which went unpunished by a hapless referee, was compounded by a scuffle between the benches, though allegations of racist abuse directed at Reds coaching staff by members of the Huddersfield bench went unproven.

Forest’s 2-0 triumph last time the teams met on the banks of the River Trent is also their only victory in the last seven matches between the two sides, with one draw and five Huddersfield wins.

Team news

Samba Sow (credit: NFFC)

Forest’s influential, domineering French midfielder Samba Sow is back in training and they’ll be hoping they can call upon him on Sunday afternoon, alongside fit again captain Ben Watson.

Youngster Brennan Johnson looked assured in the number ten role on his first league start last weekend, but may have to drop to the bench for the visit of Huddersfield with the Reds having a complete squad to pick from – excluding winger Adama Diakhaby, who is ineligible against his parent club.

The away side are also expecting to have a fully fit group available, after Arsenal loanee Emile Smith Rowe’s fever and nausea proved not to be the coronavirus.

Huddersfield’s forwards Frazier Campbell and Steve Mounié have also returned to training this week, which means top scorer Karlan Ahearne-Grant is likely to be deployed from the wing again, rather than upfront.

Emile Smith Rowe has recovered from illness (credit: HTAFC)

Managers

Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi wants his team to focus on themselves and getting the basics right, after conceding a sloppy late equaliser at Sheffield Wednesday last week, rather than their opponents.

He said: “We have to focus on us; we are confident, very focused and we have quality. We have to do the simple things.

“In a strange situation with the pandemic and the preparation being different, we have to do the simple things.

“We are not fully ready; they know that so we have to play together with and without the ball and do the simple things.”

Commenting on their draw at Hillsborough, the French manager continued: ““We missed our fans, we missed the atmosphere, we missed the intensity, we missed many things, but it will be like this for the next eight, and maybe 11, games.

“I am just asking for more focus from the players on the single details from the first until the last minute.”

Credit: Graham Crowther / Photoeye

Terriers manager Danny Cowley, meanwhile, believes his side are ready for a tough test in Nottingham, following a disappointing defeat at home to Wigan on their return to action.

He said: “We’ve prepared really well and I trust in them [the players]as people. When we have had bad days we’ve always responded.

“We worked hard this week to try and find the right response come Sunday. There’s no hiding place from last Saturday. We take the criticism. We will keep it close and use it to drive us.

“We want to show a true representation of us on Sunday. It’s time for us to make sure we respond with actions and not just words.”

The Huddersfield boss is also keen to exploit the absence of the usual full house at the City Ground.

He continued: “There’s no advantage playing at home. We didn’t feel any advantage at the John Smith’s Stadium.

“We have to create our own atmosphere, make sure we are all responsible for our own self-motivation, make sure we are all part of the group motivation.

“We have to find our intensity and fight to be competitive in the next eight games.”