PREVIEW: NOTTINGHAM FOREST (A)

15 April 2021

A look ahead at the Terriers’ Sky Bet Championship opponent

- A look into Town’s match against Nottingham Forest
- See Nottingham Forest’s key men
- Watch the game on iFollow HTAFC

Huddersfield Town will travel to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, hoping to complete the double over the East Midlands side.

The match will take place on Saturday 17 April 2021, with kick-off at 12.30pm.

Last time the two teams faced off Frazier Campbell’s second-half strike split the teams apart in a 1-0 victory for Town.

THE OPPOSITION

Nottingham Forest currently sit at 15th in the Sky Bet Championship, five points ahead of the Terriers.

After enduring a difficult start to the season under Sabri Lamouchi, he was eventually replaced by Chris Hughton. The former Brighton & HA man turned around the Club’s fortunes and guided them away from the relegations zone.

One of the first things he did was solidify their defence and so far this season, Forest have conceded just 39 goals, meaning they have the fourth best defensive record in the league.

However, their issues come on the offensive side. Forest have scored the fourth least goals in the Sky Bet Championship.

Hughton has won 33% of his games in charge of the Tricky Trees – winning 13 out of 39 in all competitions.

FORM GUIDE

Nottingham Forest come into this game in good form, without a defeat in their last four Sky Bet Championship outings. During that run, they beat Cardiff City and QPR.

Saying that, Forest have only won three of their last 10 – drawing four and losing three.

Nottingham Forest have won six of 20 outings at the City Ground, interesting the same number they’ve won away from home.

Town, on the other hand, come into the game off the back of a 2-1 defeat to AFC Bournemouth. The Terriers have only lost two of their last eight games.

ONES TO WATCH

Cyrus Christie

As the team’s leading assister, the right-back has shown that he can be a creative outlet for Forest.

The full-back also contributes heavily to the defensive side of the ball. Ranking top five for the Club in every defensive stat, he helps a solid defence keep clean sheets and has also tallied three man of the match awards this season.

James Garner

Arriving loan from Manchester United in January, the defensive midfielder has established himself as one of the best performers in the Forest side.

Three goals in his 14 appearances, including a free kick against Derby County, have made Garner a real favourite amongst the Forest faithful.

It’s not only his defensive ability that has stood out, he’s also a key playmaker for the Tricky Trees.

Filip Krovinovic

Arriving on loan in January, Krovinovic has become the main creative outlet for his side.

In his 14 games the midfielder has tallied two goal contributions, whilst also leading the squad in key passes per game.

Whilst he is an incredible help on the attacking side of the ball, Krovinovic also acts as a solid wall in front of the defence when partnered with James Garner.

PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS

Our 58 competitive meetings with the Tricky Trees have seen both sides enjoy their fair share of moments in the fixture, with Town edging the tallies in the record books with 23 wins to Forest’s 18, whilst the two sides have also registered 17 draws between them since the first meeting back in November 1911.

That gap in the win column may be a result of Town’s fortunes in the matchup in recent years, with the Terriers victorious in six of the last nine meetings with the Reds.

Earlier this year, Fraizer Campbell scored an incredible acrobatic effort that led to the Terriers taking all three points!

ACTION ELSEWHERE

There are seven other Sky Bet Championship games taking place Saturday:

Brentford vs Millwall – 12.30pm
Middlesbrough vs QPR – 12.30pm
Swansea City vs Wycombe Wanderers – 12.30pm
Luton Town vs Watford – 12.30pm
Sheffield Wednesday vs Bristol City – 12.30pm
Stoke City vs Preston North End – 12.30pm
Norwich City vs AFC Bournemouth – 8pm

TEAM NEWS

Carlos Corberán will reveal Town’s latest team news in his press conference on Friday 16 April 2021.

KIT

Town will be sporting the yellow and purple third kit for the trip to the City Ground – CLICK HERE to get yours!

HOW TO WATCH

Huddersfield Town supporters can watch Saturday’s game against Nottingham Forest on iFollow HTAFC.

The Terriers travel to the City Ground on Saturday 17 April 2021, with the game kicking off at 12.30pm.

As per the agreement between the EFL and Sky Sports, Season Card Holders will not be able to watch the game for free.

That means that all supporters have to purchase a match pass on iFollow HTAFC to watch the game!

All proceeds from match passes from iFollow HTAFC, less VAT and transactional costs, will go to YOUR Club regardless whether it’s a home or away Sky Bet Championship fixture. Please support Huddersfield Town and do not use illegal streams to view matches.

The match pass will cost £10; CLICK HERE to get yours.

Match Reports

REPORT: FOREST 0–2 TOWN

17 April 2021

Huddersfield Town returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

The Terriers ensured that all three Sky Bet Championship points would be coming back to West Yorkshire following goals either side of half-time from Aaron Rowe and Juninho Bacuna in Nottingham.

Carlos Corberán made two changes to the XI from the game against Bournemouth in midweek with both switches coming in the full-back positions.

Pipa returned to the side on the right while Harry Toffolo made his return from a back injury that had kept him on the sidelines since February to start on the opposing side. Josh Koroma was also named in the match day squad for the first time in the calendar year having recovered from a hamstring problem.

When the game got underway under glorious early-afternoon sunshine in the East Midlands, it was Town who had the bulk of the defending to do it following a quick start from the hosts.

After Alex Mighten had fired the game’s first attempt over from a free-kick, Filip Krovinović tried to make his mark on the game in the opening stages, striking two of his three quickfire efforts over while the other one took a good low stop from Ryan Schofield to keep it out.

Following a slower start, the Terriers began to kick into gear in the second half of the opening period with Jonathan Hogg having Town’s first real chance.

Fresh from his first goal in over four-and-a-half-years in midweek, the skipper flicked Duane Holmes’ free-kick, from a deep area on the left, wide of the goal.

Aaron Rowe, playing on the right-wing, was then denied by Brice Samba in the Forest goal. The ‘keeper did well to stop the winger’s fierce goal-bound strike.

Moments later, it was Holmes that Samba was keeping from opening the scoring. The Town midfielder cut in from the left and drilled a reverse shot at goal, but the Forest goalkeeper got down to gather it.

On the stroke of half-time, the Terriers got the opener that the momentum suggested would come. Having been denied in the minutes earlier, he couldn’t be this time, pouncing on a loose back-pass before taking his time and slotting home his first Sky Bet Championship goal to give Town the lead.

After the break, Town nearly made it two inside the opening five minutes of the second half. Having had his through-ball intended for substitute Danny Ward, it came back to him with the midfielder firing a speculative effort just wide from range.

It looked an ambitious attempt from Bacuna until he pulled off his next effort from a similar range to double Town’s lead at the City Ground on the hour.

Ward laid the ball of to the Terriers’ no.7 who squared up his man before picking out the top corner with a superb driven effort to make it 2-0.

It was nearly three soon after following some neat footwork from Holmes who found Ward on the edge of the area. Having been playmaker for the second, the forward tried his own luck this time but sliced his shot wide of the target.

Richard Keogh then met Holmes’ free-kick from the right and went close before Scott McKenna did the same at the other end but saw his effort well kept out by Schofield in the Town goal.

McKenna’s effort was the last of the home side’s openings in search of a goal to get back into the game, as the Terriers held firm to see the encounter out and pick up a big three points on the road.

Next up for Town is the visit of Barnsley to the John Smith’s Stadium for a Yorkshire derby in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday 21 April 2021; 19:45 BST kick-off.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST (4-2-3-1)

Brice Samba; Tyler Blackett, Scott McKenna, Joe Worrall, Cyrus Christie; James Garner, Ryan Yates (Cafú, 63’); Alex Mighten, Filip Krovinović (Lyle Taylor, 63’), Anthony Knockaert (Luke Freeman, 80’); Lewis Grabban (Glenn Murray, 80’)

Unused subs

Jordan Smith; Yuri Ribeiro, Loic Mbe Soh, Jack Colback, Carl Jenkinson

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (4-3-3)

Ryan Schofield; Harry Toffolo (Rarmani Edmonds-Green, 66’), Naby Sarr, Richard Keogh, Pipa (Jaden Brown, 83’); Jonathan Hogg (c), Lewis O’Brien, Juninho Bacuna; Aaron Rowe, Fraizer Campbell (Danny Ward, 42’), Duane Holmes (Scott High, 83’)

Unused subs

Joel Pereira; Richard Stearman, Rolando Aarons, Josh Koroma, Sorba Thomas

REFEREE

Andy Woolmer