Nottingham Forest vs Wolves Prediction: MGW to fan the flames of Old Gold anger

Wolverhampton Wanderers suffered an embarrassing 6-2 home defeat to Chelsea last Sunday, and after losing 2-0 at Arsenal on the opening weekend of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign, the Old Gold go looking for their first point/s of the season on Saturday (15:00) when they head to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest.

In contrast, Saturday's hosts are unbeaten in the league, following up a 1-1 home draw with Bournemouth with a 1-0 win at Southampton. Read on for my Nottingham Forest vs Wolves prediction, alongside all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Nottingham Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo made 10 changes to his starting XI for Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie with Newcastle United - only Elliot Anderson retained his place against his former side - handing out debuts to Eric da Silva Moreira, Alex Moreno and Ramon Sosa, and giving Jota Silva his full debut.

Jota Silva did his chances of keeping his place no harm with a livewire display against the Magpies which he capped with an equaliser to cancel out Joe Willock's first-minute strike. However, the Tricky Trees eventually lost on penalties.

Nuno is expected to revert to more or less the same side that started last Saturday's 1-0 win against Southampton, with Brazilian midfielder Danilo the only major absentee following the nasty injury he suffered on the season's opening weekend.

Football Odds

Wolves beat Burnley 2-0 in midweek to advance to the Carabao Cup third round. Goncalo Guedes was the match-winner as his brace downed the Clarets, but the Portuguese forward is likely to drop back down to the bench at the City Ground with Jorgen Strand Larsen, Matheus Cunha and Hwang Hee-chan preferred up front.

However, head coach Gary O'Neil could be tempted into a few changes following last weekend's humiliation at Chelsea's hands. Santiago Bueno and Craig Dawson helped Wolves to a clean sheet on Wednesday and both have put themselves in contention to start at centre-back this weekend, while Nelson Semedo looks set to return to right-back after sitting out the first three games of the season through suspension.

Sasa Kalajdzic, Enso Gonzalez and Leon Chiwome remain injured.

Nottingham Forest vs Wolves Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Nottingham Forest vs Wolves page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Forest are 21/20 to achieve their first home victory of the new season - and their first since April 2 - on Saturday, giving them an implied win probability of 48.8%, while Wolves are 12/5, or a 29.4% chance, to get their first Premier League win of the 2024/25 campaign.

The draw is priced at 12/5, both teams to score at 8/13 and over 2.5 total goals at 8/11.

Correct Score - Draw 1-1 @ 6/1

This has been the scoreline in three of the past four meetings between the sides, while all four have ended in a draw in regulation time. The first of a 1-1 hat-trick came in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals in January 2023, when Forest triumphed on penalties at the City Ground to book their place in the final four of the competition. Just under three months later, the teams played out another 1-1 draw at the same venue, and the hat-trick was sealed last December at Molineux as Cunha cancelled out Harry Toffolo's early strike.

The 1-1 run ended when the sides met at the City Ground in April, but they each took a point again in a 2-2 draw. Cunha was at it once more with a brace for Wolves, while Morgan Gibbs-White and Danilo were on the scoresheet for Forest. More about Gibbs-White soon...

It appears Forest have a fondness for a 1-1 scoreline. The Tricky Trees drew nine games in the Premier League last season and six of them finished 1-1, while they also drew 1-1 with Bristol City in an FA Cup fourth-round replay at the City Ground in February, winning 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out. Nuno's side have also started the 2024/25 season with a couple of 1-1's, drawing at Bournemouth in the league and taking Newcastle United to a penalty shoot-out in the Carabao Cup second round on Wednesday, losing 4-3 to the Magpies.

Wolves aren't unfamiliar with a 1-1 either, with four of their seven Premier League stalemates last term ending in that scoreline, while they also drew 1-1 at Brentford in the FA Cup third round before beating the Bees in a replay at Molineux.

The Old Gold will be desperate to get off the mark in the league this season, so a draw would probably be deemed acceptable in the eyes of O'Neil. Not that they are going out to take just a point, but Forest are unbeaten in regulation time across three games and have previously shown themselves to be a force to be reckoned with at the City Ground.

Anytime Scorer - Morgan Gibbs-White @ 11/4

Gibbs-White rose through the ranks at Wolves, starting in the academy aged eight and progressing all the way to the first team, making 88 senior appearances for the club before being sold to Forest in August 2022.

However, Gibbs-White's exit was rather acrimonious, and there appears to be bad blood between the player and Wolves supporters. The latter certainly like to make things as uncomfortable as possible for the 24-year-old when they come into contact.

Gibbs-White got bragging rights the last time these sides met, however. He wasn't able to inspire his side to victory in April but the Stafford-born forward struck Forest's first goal of the game, his fifth of the season in the Premier League, and he's already off the mark this term, netting the winner at St. Mary's last weekend.

At the time of writing, Betfred have seven players considered more likely to score anytime than Gibbs-White (11/4) on Saturday, so I think there's certainly value to be had in backing Forest's number 10 to fire in back-to-back games. He's arguably their most important player and usually plays the duration of their matches - he was only substituted in the dying embers of their win against Southampton having scored midway through the second half.

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