Nottingham Forest v Cardiff
Saturday September 19, 12:30
Sky Sports
Lamouchi under-fire at Forest?
Nottingham Forest remain fully behind Sabri Lamouchi, despite rumours about the head coach’s future. A Carabao Cup exit to Barnsley and an opening Championship defeat at QPR last Saturday had led to suggestions the Frenchman could be facing the sack. However, reports from club insiders insists the Reds remain firmly committed to Lamouchi.
Forest have backed Lamouchi in the transfer market, sanctioning eight new arrivals, as well as an overhaul in the manager’s backroom staff. However, the Tricky Trees have produced a pair of sloppy and sluggish displays since returning to competitive action, including last weekend’s disappointing 2-0 defeat with Lewis Grabban particularly profligate in attack.
Lamouchi was irked by the loss and criticised his side for a naive performance that he felt lacked patience in both boxes. Speaking post-match, he said: “Without a mistake, and with more efficiency in the box, the game is in our hands.” The hosts could opt to recall full-backs Yuri Ribeiro and Tendayi Darikwa here after being surprisingly left out at QPR.
Cardiff unimpress on opening day
Cardiff boss Neil Harris bemoaned his side’s lack of creativity against Sheffield Wednesday after the Bluebirds fell to a 2-0 defeat in the first game of their Championship campaign. The Welsh outfit were hit by two “sucker punches”, as Harris called them, but looked bereft of ideas with the ball at their feet, enjoying 62% possession without opening the Owls up.
The Bluebirds were two goals down before the interval – Leandro Bacuna‘s misplaced pass gifting Wednesday an opener – and never really looked capable of producing a second-half comeback. The hosts enjoyed plenty of possession, but little penetration, as the team’s lack of ingenuity and spark in the final-third saw Cardiff manage just seven attempts at goal.
Speaking post-match, Harris said: “We didn’t hit the heights we have for the last nine months. We were architects of our own downfall. We didn’t show the consistencies of a quality Championship side, you can’t give two goals away like the ones we did. Both goals were really poor from us.” Kieffer Moore, Jordi Osei-Tutu and Sheyi Ojo all made debuts.
Nottingham Forest and Cardiff produced two tight affairs last season. Both Championship meetings concluded 1-0 to the away side, extending a curious streak of only two home wins in this fixture over the past nine head-to-heads since 2014. During that sequence, the Bluebirds have departed with maximum points in all five trips to the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest [2.48] failed to land a single attempt on-target during their Championship curtain-raiser at QPR and pressure is beginning to build on Sabri Lamouchi’s men following their unforgivable collapse at the back end of 2019/20. The Reds will hope to find a response, however the hosts went W3-D2-L4 here against top-10 teams last term.
Cardiff [2.98] excelled under Neil Harris’ watch last season. The capital club picked up 52 points from 30 league fixtures (W14-D10-L6) before giving Fulham a good run for their money in the play-off semi-final. The visitors accrued just one point at top-six finishers (W0-D1-L5) but the Bluebirds posted W8-D6-L5 when travelling to the rest of the division.
Four of the past five meetings between Nottingham Forest and Cardiff have featured fewer than three goals and a repeat could be on the cards for the City Ground on Saturday. Thirteen (57%) of the Reds’ home outings last term featured Under 2.5 Goals (1.60) with just six of those 23 tussles producing four goals or more.
Cardiff’s away days were more open than to be expected. The Bluebirds delivered 13 (2.20) successful Over 2.5 Goals pokes, as well as 13 (1.90) winning Both Teams To Score bets outside of the Welsh capital. City scored in all bar five road trips, whilst recording six shutouts en-route to their fifth-placed finish.
With neither side appearing particularly backable at the odds, plus contrasting goal trends, it may pay to take the bigger-priced option in the Match Odds and support the draw at [3.40]. Only West Brom and Millwall – both 17 – were involved in more stalemates last season with Forest and Cardiff rewarding draw backers on 16 occasions each.
Source: Betfair UK English Championship
