Nottingham Forest – Porto

The guests will not lose to the opponents on English soil.

Third match in the current Europa League campaign between Nottingham Forest and Porto is scheduled on English soil. The winner will reach the tournament’s semifinal. In the two-legged tie the rivals’ meeting also took place at the City Ground. Then Nottingham Forest scored two unanswered goals from penalties. Porto, too, managed to score once, but Jan Bednarek's strike was not credited by the referee due to offside. That defeat was the Portuguese side’s only one in the tie and did not prevent them from finishing in fifth place. At the same time, Nottingham Forest themselves missed out on the Top 8, finishing only thirteenth after the final round. A week ago, the match in Portugal began with the home side’s complete domination, which yielded a result already in the eleventh minute. However, just two minutes later all of Porto’s early zest vanished due to a dreadful own goal from 40 meters by Martim Fernandes. The young player misread the position in front of his goalkeeper and sent a strong pass into his own goal. As a result, the 1-1 scoreline remained until the final whistle. It seems this gives certain advantages to the English side ahead of the home fixture. Bookmakers, too, assessed it, offering odds of 2.26 for a home win. On Sunday, The Forest played a hard Premier League match against Aston Villa, finishing 1-1. It seems remaining in the English top flight is Nottingham Forest’s priority. They are only three points above the relegation zone, while their rivals Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham can unleash a winning streak at any moment. Not very encouraging is also the Forest’s home performance in the previous Europa League round, where they lost 0-1 to Danish Midtjylland. Porto are fairly comfortably leading the Portuguese league, where over the weekend they beat a fairly solid Estoril 3-1 away. It seems the visiting players are not inferior to their opponents in any respect. Nottingham Forest has a more expensive squad, but already a fourth manager this season has yet to mould it into a cohesive unit. In this, the visitors have a clear advantage.