Town boss Kieran McKenna says he’s not surprised that Nottingham Forest, who the Blues face at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon, have made an impressive start to the campaign.

The Tricky Trees, who some had tipped for relegation this season after finishing 17th in 2023/24 only six points off the bottom three, were as high as third in the Premier League at the start of the month having lost only one of their first 10 games with a 1-0 victory over otherwise unbeaten league leaders Liverpool at Anfield the standout result.

However, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are now down to seventh on 19 points, 11 places and 10 points in front of the Blues, having lost their last two matches.

After a run of three wins in a row, Forest were beaten 3-1 at home by Newcastle United prior to the international break, then were defeated 3-0 at Arsenal last weekend.

Their form at home this season has been less impressive than their results away with only eight of their 19 points having been picked up at the City Ground via two wins, two draws and two defeats.

McKenna says he didn’t follow their progress particularly closely in 2023/24, during which former Wolves and Tottenham boss Nuno took over in the December following Steve Cooper’s dismissal.

“To be honest, I didn’t follow them too much last season, but the manager has had a full pre-season, which I think always helps, after taking over during the middle of last season,” McKenna said.

“They’ve got a lot of very good players, for sure. They’ve recruited very heavily over the last few years and you are almost in the third iteration of the team now since they got promoted [in 2021/22 via the play-offs].

“They have brought in some really good individuals and developed the players well. They have got a very talented squad now and a very experienced manager who has done well at clubs before.

“In that context, it is not a surprise that they are having a good season. They have had some fantastic results, like winning at Anfield, which was probably beyond anything that anyone expected, but they are a very good team.

“Going to their ground on Saturday, we know it is going to be tough but it is another challenge we are looking forward to.”

Among their top performers this season has been former Town loan striker Chris Wood, who has scored eight times in the Premier League - as well as a further six for New Zealand - and was named the division’s Player of the Month for October.
 
“I have been very impressed,” McKenna said of the 32-year-old, who has bagged 12 goals in his last 10 games for club and country. “Of course, we have watched plenty of him over the last week and he is a fantastic striker in really good form with a really good all-round game.

“He has been such a big part of what they have done this season and last season in the Premier League as well.

“Not just his goals and his threat in the box and his threat on crosses, but his back-to-goal play, bringing in other players and being a target for their direct play.

“They have got some really talented number 10s and some fast wide players who also feed off him. We are going to have to work really hard to try and stop him this weekend. It’s not going to be easy but we have a good plan.

“It’s not just about stopping him, it’s about stopping his influence, or trying to limit his influence, on the game as he is very good at bringing all their other players into play. Credit to him, it’s going to be a good challenge for our players this weekend.”

Speaking after the Manchester United match, McKenna said that prior to the Tottenham match that internally he had made comparisons with the Manchester City game in August and then the visit by the Red Devils with the opening day fixture against Liverpool at Portman Road.

The Blues boss was asked whether, in a similar vein, he was making comparisons with the trip to West Ham ahead of Saturday’s match.

“In some ways,” he said. “I think that’s a fair reflection. The games in the league can be very different and we’re coming off Tottenham and Man United, two really good performances, but a certain type of game from a tactical perspective, from a physical perspective, from a mental perspective.

“This is now a different challenge against a team who play very differently than those teams. A different level around the game in terms of the scrutiny on a Man United on Super Sunday as opposed to a Saturday three o’clock away from home.

“So, from a mental point of view, it’s really dialling in, it’s a Premier League game against a top team who have got much, much, much more experience at this level, have got top individual quality players and have shown this season that they can hurt any team, and they can certainly hurt us.

“From a mental point of view, our performance needs to be right up there in the Tottenham game, right up there where it was in the Man United game and then we need to deal with the stylistic differences.

“Nottingham Forest are very, very good at using Chris Wood as a target man in the build-up, that’s very different than facing Marcus Rashford or even Dominic Solanke.

“They’re very, very good on the counter-attack and playing on transitions, which is different than some previous games and they have a really, really high level of individual quality that can hurt you in any moment.

“It’s a sign of why the league’s as difficult as it is and why the challenges are so great for us. It’s a chance for us this weekend to step up to that and show that we can deal with that type of game and that type of opponent well.”

For the third match in a row, McKenna is facing a club where he has spent time working. While his spells at Tottenham and Manchester United are more well-known, the Northern Irishman worked in the Forest academy during his time studying for a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science at Loughborough University between 2009 and 2012.

“Forest was a really nice club at the academy level, I can’t speak too much for the first-team side of things,” he recalled. “It was a really traditional and well-run academy.

“I worked there for almost two seasons in my time at Loughborough, with the younger age groups in the academy. It was a good grounding for me, a well-run academy with good traditions.

“A fun period for me where I was probably coaching eight or nine sessions a week. I was doing Nottingham Forest’s U9s, U10s, the Loughborough University team and the Loughborough non-league team. I was doing a lot of coaching at different age groups.

“It was a really good period for me and some good people there in the academy and a good part of my development.”

The Team

Having recorded positive results in their last two matches and with no new injury problems, McKenna will probably stick closely to the team which drew with the Red Devils last week.

One-time Forest loanee Aro Muric will be in goal with Axel Tuanzebe and Leif Davis the full-backs and Dara O’Shea at right centre-half.

McKenna has admitted he has a decision to make between Jacob Greaves, back after his hamstring injury, or Cameron Burgess, who has done well in the former Hull City man’s absence, on the left. Burgess perhaps might get the nod given the Forest’s more direct approach.

In central midfield, skipper Sam Morsy, still on four bookings with a fifth leading to a one-match ban, looks set to continue his increasingly influential partnership with Jens Cajuste with Kalvin Phillips set to be assessed ahead of the trip to the East Midlands due to the knock he suffered in the Leicester match.

Ahead of the double pivot, Ben Johnson is also being assessed having picked up a minor injury during the international break. If fit, the former West Ham man could come in on the right having been among the top performers at Spurs. If not, Wes Burns is likely to continue.

Omari Hutchinson, who appears to have stepped up a level in the last two games, will be in the centre with Sammie Szmodics on the left and six-goal top scorer Liam Delap the lone central striker.

Nathan Broadhead may return to the bench following the groin problem which halted his return from the hamstring injury the Wales international suffered at the start of pre-season.

Opposition

Forest head coach Nuno, the second Portuguese boss the Blues have faced in successive games, the first time that’s happened in the club’s history, has been impressed with what he’s seen of Town.

“They compete very well, they are a good team and they compete very well,” he said. “The energy, the intensity of their actions, they compete very well, it’s going to be very tough.”

Asked whether he’s been surprised that the Blues have performed so well and playing such attacking football having been promoted from the Championship, he added: “I don’t get surprises in terms of football by itself. There are so many things that we use, footage, videos, we analyse so deeply all the teams and there are no surprises.

“It’s a very competitive league, all the teams are very good, so that said, no surprises.”

Nuno, whose side trained at the City Ground today, wasn’t getting carried away when his team hit third and similarly isn’t panicking now they have lost two on the trot.

“The way we approach it is always the same,” he said. “The result before doesn’t mean anything, it’s always a new chance to improve. When you win, when you lose or you draw, it’s always looking forward to the game knowing that we have to do things right, at the City Ground, especially.

“I still believe that the home factor is huge for us, especially, to take advantage of the help of our fans, but it’s life, how long do you stay in that moment? How long? And now you bounce back.”

Forest were without midfielders Morgan Gibbs-White (ankle) and Elliot Anderson (foot) at Arsenal and then lost winger Anthony Elanga, who played under Blues boss McKenna at Manchester United, at half-time due to a shoulder problem. All three are set to be assessed before Saturday’s match.

Another midfielder, Danilo, is back in training after breaking his ankle on the opening day of the season but Saturday will come too soon for the Brazilian, while Ibrahim Sangare remains sidelined having undergone surgery on a hamstring injury in September.

History

Historically, Forest very much have the upper hand, winning 38 of the games between the two sides (35 in the league), with 19 (18) ending in draws and Town winning 22 (21).

Town have won one of the last six games between the clubs, a 4-2 victory at Portman Road in December 2017, and haven’t beaten Forest at the City Ground since December 1999 - 14 games ago - when George Burley’s promotion-bound side won 1-0 via a Matt Holland goal.

The Blues’ only Premier League win at the City Ground was in October 1992 when Jason Dozzell scored in the sixth minute to secure a 1-0 win.

The teams most recently met at Portman Road in March 2019 with the Blues on their way to relegation from the Championship.

Collin Quaner’s first Blues goal gave Town a fifth minute lead but Molla Wague equalised for Nottingham Forest on 31 as Paul Lambert’s side recorded their sixth 1-1 draw in seven games.

Quaner stabbed in a Gwion Edwards cross to put Town ahead but Wague scrambled home from a corner as Forest had the better of the first half.

The Blues were dominant after the break but were unable to turn their superiority into what would have been only their fourth win of the season.

At the City Ground in the preceding December, two first-half Lewis Grabban goals saw Forest to a comfortable 2-0 victory.

Grabban followed up with a rebound to open the scoring in the ninth minute then, after Kayden Jackson had headed the Blues’ best opportunity wide, added the second on 38.

Familiar Faces

Forest striker Wood was on loan with the Blues from Leicester in the 2014/15 Championship play-off season but never got full fit before being recalled by the Foxes having made only three starts and five sub appearances without scoring.

Blues keeper Aro Muric made five appearances for Forest during a season-loan loan spell in the 2019/20 season.

In addition to McKenna’s links with the Forest academy, former Town U18s coach Sam Darlow is now working in the Tricky Trees' youth set-up, coaching their U21s.

Officials

Saturday’s referee is Tony Harrington, while his assistants are Eddie Smart and Marc Perry, and the fourth official David Webb. The VAR official is Matt Donohue and his assistant Neil Davies.

Cleveland-based Harrington has shown 37 yellow cards and one red in eight games so far this season.

Harrington's last Town match was the 2-0 defeat at Hull City in September 2018 in which he yellow-carded two Tigers and no Blues.

Prior to that, he was in charge of the loss at Aston Villa by the same scoreline in November 2017 in which he booked Callum Connolly and Emyr Huws.

He also took control of the 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United a month earlier in which he yellow-carded Jonas Knudsen and two home players.

Before that he refereed the 2-1 defeat at QPR at the start of January 2017 in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout and also the 0-0 home draw with Aston Villa at Portman Road in September of the previous year in which he booked Tom Lawrence and one Villan.

Harrington took charge of the 2-1 defeat at Bristol City in February 2016, in which he cautioned Kevin Foley and one home player.

Earlier, he refereed the 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield in April 2015, in which he booked Tommy Smith, Christophe Berra and one Terrier, and the 3-0 Boxing Day 2013 victory at Doncaster in which he yellow-carded just one Rovers player.

Squad From

Muric, Walton, Slicker, Davis, Townsend, Tuanzebe, Johnson, H Clarke, O’Shea, Woolfenden, Burgess, Greaves, Morsy (c), Cajuste, Phillips, Luongo, Taylor, Hutchinson, Chaplin, Szmodics, J Clarke, Broadhead, Burns, Delap, Al-Hamadi.

TWTD

EatonBlue added 20:34 - Nov 28 October 1992 I was there - 'You'll never beat the Baker'. Also there for the 3-3 FA Cup game in 1981.
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armchaircritic59 added 00:54 - Nov 29 I have a memory of watching us play at Forest in I think the great days of the early 80's. Unless my old brain is addled I have a memory of Alan Brazil beating Peter Shilton on a one on one, nothing new there, he still remains the best one on one finisher, I've ever seen, hardly ever missed.
5

armchaircritic59 added 01:03 - Nov 29 Oh and while I think about it, around the same time I remember a real collectors item. An Arnold Muhren right footer from around the edge of the penalty area into the corner of the Nottingham Forest net at Portman Road. As the great man himself once said, " my right leg is for standing on " ! Happy days indeed, I'd like to think we are at the very start of something big again, it would be nice for younger supporters to enjoy some special times too.

4

FreddySteady added 07:04 - Nov 29 @armchaircritic59 I completely agree about your comment re Alan Brazil. He was just the best one on one finisher ever wasn’t he?
4

carlo88 added 11:45 - Nov 29 Forest such a similar club to us in all sorts of ways. Brilliant mainly in the 70s and 80s, European trophies, years of stagnation including League One, recent revival and most importantly a recently adopted ridiculous nickname which half of the fans can't stand. Tricky Trees, I ask you.
2

armchaircritic59 added 19:25 - Nov 29 @FreddySteady Yes, he certainly was. Seriously underated, would be worth a pretty sum in todays market. As would nearly everyone else in that side!
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bobble added 23:19 - Nov 29 Yes 2 teams with dumb nicknames, not that i accept the stupid name given to us by the far right murdoch press..
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armchaircritic59 added 01:04 - Nov 30 Bobble, I think in our case it's a bit of self deprecation on our behalf. Though I get where you're coming from, notions of country bumpkins with straw behind our ears, etc, heard all that rubbish before. In this case lets hope the tractors, can pull up a few trees!
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Tractor_Boy_in_HK added 04:12 - Nov 30 What a decade McKenna has had - from studying at Loughborough, coaching U-9s at Forest, coaching a local non-league team...to coaching in the Premier League. Dreams do come true (with ability and hard work)!
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awayfan added 09:59 - Nov 30 A Gwion Edwards cross, stabbed in by Collin Quaner… only 2019, but feels like half a lifetime ago!
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TimmyH added 13:36 - Nov 30 If this was the late 70's it would be a colossus of a game!
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Ebantiass added 13:48 - Nov 30 Tough one today but so was the last two games. Lets please not conceed and early goal. 2-2 i feel
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