Nottingham Forest look to end losing run against in-form Swansea City

Nottingham Forest will look to end a run of back-to-back defeats when Swansea City visit the City Ground on Sunday.

The Reds lost consecutive matches against Barnsley and AFC Bournemouth, ending a previous run of just one loss in seven Championship matches.

Chris Hughton’s side are 11 points adrift of the play-offs after 13 matches, collecting just 12 points after a slow start.

Their opponents tomorrow, however, head to Nottinghamshire as the sixth-most in-form Championship team, drawing 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday in their last outing.

Swans top-scorer Andre Ayew’s second-half penalty salvaged a point for the Welsh side, after going behind to Adam Reach’s 27th-minute strike.

Steve Cooper’s side arrives in relatively hot form having lost just three times in their opening 13 matches, winning six and drawing five.

Swansea are winless in their last four matches away from the Liberty Stadium, with the City Ground proving a particularly tricky venue for the Coopers’ team, having failed to win in their last eight visits.

Despite their best efforts, goals have come at a premium in recent weeks for Nottingham Forest. The Reds had a combined total of 21 shots across their last two matches but failed to score on both outings.

The Reds have had a higher than average number of shots-on-goal per match (12.4) this season and a quartet of players create more than 1.4 chances per match – Cyrus Christie (1.45), Joe Lolley (1.62), Nicholas Ioannou (1.78) and Luke Freeman (1.98).

Despite having 11 shots against AFC Bournemouth on Wednesday night, and 53 dangerous attacks, the Reds could only muster three shots on-target and left the South Coast empty-handed.

Regardless of having failed to score in their last two matches, boss Hughton said morale remains high ahead of Swansea City’s visit, the second of five consecutive matches against teams in the current top six.

“The mood has been good, I must admit,” he told Nottinghamshire Live. “I think also because we have got a few back on the training pitch, which is nice.

“I think what you get used to…. and I suppose if I look at our results we were on the back of a couple of really good results and now on the back of a couple of poor ones.

“What you want, of course, is more good days than bad days but what happens is that after a bad day the opportunity comes round very quickly.

“For as tough as this period is, they’re also really good games to look forward to.”

Tomorrow’s match will likely prove too early for Joe Worrall, Taylor Blackett, Samba Sow, Michael Dawson and Lewis Grabban – all of which returned to training this week – but their progression adds positivity amid a difficult run of matches.

Hughton said: “It’s a really good test for us, certainly as regards learning.

“Because of the nature of the division and the timing of coming in you are learning in games.

“This week has been probably a little bit different as we had an extra day so you have an extra day’s training.

“Ultimately you are learning about players in games, having to make those decisions around that. These are tough tests coming up but I sense and I’d like to think that the players look at it very much as something to look forward to.”

Victory for Nottingham Forest could see the Reds move one place up the table, leapfrogging Rotherham United into 19th.

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