Nottingham Forest Premier League Odds: Could Forest improve but still go down?

Nottingham Forest are preparing for their third consecutive season in the Premier League, having avoided the drop by the skin of their teeth last term. They finished on just 32 points, the lowest ever recorded total to stay up in the Premier League, and yet the finished six points clear of Luton Town in 18th. 

They’ll be hoping for more positivity this term under Nuno Espirito Santo, and below I’ve taken a look at the Nottingham Forest Premier League Odds. 

Last Season: 17th

Top Scorer: Chris Wood (15)

Transfers In: Elliot Anderson - Newcastle (£38m), Nikola Milenkovic - Fiorentina (£12m), Jota Silva - Vitoria (£6m), Marko Stamenic - Red Star (£5m), Carlos Miguel - Corinthians (£3m), Eric da Silva Moreira - St Pauli (£1m). 

Transfers Out: Moussa Niakhate - Lyon (£28m), Odysseas Vlachodimos - Newcastle (£20m), Orel Mangala - Lyon (£20m), Remo Frueler - Bologna (£4m), Scott McKenna - Las Palmas (free). 

First Game: Bournemouth (H)

Prediction: 18th

Premier League Odds

Nuno Espirito Santo will be glad of the chance of a full pre-season with his squad, having replaced Steve Cooper midway through the last campaign. He came in at Christmas with the task of keeping Forest up, and managed it, even though the points tally was less than impressive.

However, it feels like after a couple of seasons of chaos, especially in the transfer market, a level of calm has returned to the City Ground. They’ve made some profitable sales to Lyon in the form of Moussa Niakhate and Orel Mangla, while the slightly strange deal that saw them sell Odysseas Vlachodimos to Newcastle for £20m to help both clubs comply with FFP, saw exciting young midfielder Elliot Anderson head the other way for £38m. 

He should be a good addition to a squad that does have the building blocks in place to put together a decent season on paper. Murillo is a talented centre-back, although there is some interest around him, while Morgan Gibbs-White is their creator-in-chief, and is quickly becoming their talisman. Chris Wood also showed excellent goalscoring form last term bagging 15 in total, and should start the season for them, with Taiwo Awoniyi another strong number nine option. 

There’s pace out wide in the form of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga, and Nuno will look to make his side defensively sound before striking on the break. The additions and outgoings feel like they have strengthened the squad, but let’s not forget this team were the worst-performing Premier League team last term, outside of the newly-promoted trio. 

Football Odds

Sheffield United, Burnley and to some extent, Luton, were all pretty miserable last term. 32 points shouldn’t be anywhere near enough to keep you in the division, and I expect that total to increase this term as the three coming up from the Championship look in a better place than last season. 

I do expect Nottingham Forest to get more points than they did last term, but reaching that 40-point mark that would guarantee safety feels like a big ask at this moment in time. Nuno has the ability to make teams well-drilled defensively, but the counter-point to that is that Forest could invite a lot of pressure this season with their counter-attacking style. 

Fellow bottom-half rivals such as Everton, Brentford and Wolves all look to have improved as well, while Ipswich Town and Southampton should be able to get closer to those established Premier League sides than Burnley and Luton did. 

I’m also not sure the owner, Evangelos Marinakis, brings a sense of calm from the top. He showed a decent amount of patience with Cooper, but you get the feeling that another managerial sacking could be on the way for Forest this season if they are battling relegation. All in all, I’m just not sure they have enough to truly improve on last season. More points, but perhaps a bottom-three finish could lie-in-wait for the Tricky Trees. 

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