Nottingham Forest are back in Premier League action tonight (Wednesday, 7.30pm kick-off) when they take on Southampton at St Mary's.
Forest will be looking to improve on their away form this season, having scoring one goal in eight matches, while they have lost 6-0 at Manchester City, 5-0 at Arsenal, 4-0 at Leicester and 3-0 at Manchester United. They will, though, be boosted by a rousing 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the City Ground last time out.
“There are going to be obvious questions about our away form and I quite welcome those questions because I really want us to face up to things that we need to improve on," said head coach Steve Cooper. “It would be easy for me to swerve the questions and skirt around the edges and I am not going to do that, our away form needs to get better and needs to improve and we need to challenge ourselves to do that.
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“We are just looking at the context for ourselves and how we can go down there and win and we are looking forward to doing that. The only way of improving something in a football team is playing games and the questions around away form, how do you improve your away form? Go and win games. That is what we are going to try and do.”
Forest remain in the relegation zone but are only 18th on goal difference behind West Ham United and could move five points clear of Southampton with a win on the south coast. The Saints have suffered five consecutive league defeats, with new boss Nathan Jones as yet unable to turn the tide since replacing Ralph Hasenhuttl at the helm.
Nottingham-born pundit Chris Sutton is predicting the points will be shared in a 1-1 draw. The former Norwich, Blakcburn and Chelsea striker told BBC Sport: "Southampton have lost all three league games under Nathan Jones and have the worst home record in the Premier League - they have taken only six points from a possible 24 at St Mary's Stadium, and haven't won there since August.
"But Nottingham Forest are the top-flight team with the worst record on the road - they have picked up only two points from eight away games, and scored only once.
"Forest were great at home to Chelsea on Sunday and deserved to beat them but, for some reason, they don't seem able to play that way away from the City Ground.
"Both teams are desperate for a win to climb out of the relegation zone, but it's hard to make a case for either of them to come out on top - I'm going for a draw."
Fellow pundit Mark Lawrenson disagrees with Sutton, and is predicting a 2-1 defeat for Forest. The former Liverpool defender told Paddy Power: "Forest did well getting that draw with Chelsea, but I think this could be a case of 'after the Lord Mayor's show'.
"I thought Southampton were unlucky against Brighton. They started well and created a few chances. I fancy them to edge a close one."
What's your score prediction for the Southampton game? Let us know in the comments section...
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