Three points much needed as Nottingham Forest take on Blackburn at the City Ground

Nottingham Forest welcome Blackburn Rovers to the City Ground this weekend with both sides looking to get back to winning ways.

Despite a positive performance from Forest at Swansea in midweek, they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadium. Connor Roberts’ 87th-minute header ended Chris Hughton’s side’s four-match unbeaten run.

The loss in South Wales meant that Forest dropped to 18th in the table, five points above Sheffield Wednesday in 22nd, who also have a game in hand.

For Blackburn meanwhile, it’s been a torrid February. They have lost all three of their matches this month, with the latest defeat coming at Oakwell. Goals from Carlton Morris and Alex Mowatt helped Barnsley to a 2-1 victory.

Rovers’ recent run has seen them plummet to 12th in the table, their chances of making the Play-Offs are thinning as they find themselves ten points off sixth-placed Bournemouth, with a game in hand.

They also come into this one with the third most amount of goals conceded from any side in the top half of the division (33), but in contrast to their leaky defensive record, they are also the fourth-highest scorers in the Championship with 43.

Adam Armstrong finds himself in impressive form coming into this one. The Newcastle-born striker has scored in four of Blackburn’s last five league games which has taken his total to 19 for the season. No doubt the forward will be looking to add to his personal tally at the City Ground as he looks to win the Championship’s Golden Boot.

Forest have only conceded 31 goals in the league this season and have kept six clean sheets in their last 12 games. However, they have only found the net on 25 occasions, the sixth-lowest in the division.

That’s not to say the Reds haven’t had their fair share of chances. At Swansea on Wednesday night, Anthony Knockaert hit the crossbar on the stroke of half-time and Lewis Grabban’s shot from a tight angle went agonisingly wide.

Nottingham Forest manager Chris Hughton will be hoping that they can turn more chances into goals, and with the likes of Grabban, Knockaert, as well as January signings, James Garner, Filip Krovinović and veteran Glenn Murray among the Forest ranks, they are more than capable of doing so.

Victory for the hosts could help ease their relegation worries and move them above fierce rivals Derby County, depending on their result at Watford this evening. A win for Blackburn could see them move as high as ninth in the table.

Team News

Nottingham Forest 

Harry Arter will miss the match with a calf injury, Samba Sow and Scott McKenna both have ankle problems. Sammy Ameobi will also be unavailable due to a knee injury.

Chris Hughton had confirmed in the week that Ryan Yates was back in training and could be part of the squad for the match against Blackburn.

Blackburn Rovers

Bradley Johnson is sidelined with a hamstring issue, Scott Wharton is unavailable due to an Achilles problem and Daniel Ayala is out with a groin injury.

Lewis Holtby could return after going off in the defeat to QPR at the start of February.

Last Time Out

The reverse fixture back in October was Hughton’s first match in charge of Nottingham Forest following the dismissal of Sabri Lamouchi. Joe Lolley’s deflected goal in the 90th minute gave the Reds a 1-0 victory, and their first win of the season.

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