Good morning everyone ! Make no bones about it Forest are struggling and are in desperate need of a win. New manager Chris Hughton is earmarking this game as the kick start to getting his side up the table, and the swans recent visits to the city ground have hardly been fruitful.
It’s overcast here in Nottingham, but this has always been a great trip for the Jack Army. it’s such a shame today the travelling thousands haven’t enjoyed a great Saturday night out in Nottingham centre before a hearty breakfast and early kick off. It’s LIVE on SKY Sports today as well as numerous channels on the Matchday thread. BBC Radio Nottingham will also bring you commentary along with Radio Wales.
Team news at 11am this morning
The latest from the Nottingham Forest dressing room ahead of todays match against Swansea City at The City Ground
Chris Hughton confirmed that Gaetan Bong and Luke Freeman will both be absent from Sunday's squad through injury. Bong pulled out just before the defeat against Bournemouth having picked up a slight injury in the warm-up, while Freeman was also missing with a slight knock. Both players' injuries are not serious and could return next week. There was positive news as Joe Worrall, Tyler Blackett, Samba Sow, Lewis Grabban and Michael Dawson all trained with the squad on Friday as they continue their recoveries from injury, but Hughton admitted that it may be too soon to see them in action today.
Hughton said: "We have had some relatively long-termers back training. It has been a positive couple of days with Joe Worrall, Tyler Blackett and Samba Sow training today, also Lewis Grabban and Michael Dawson training as well. "That is the positive bit, but how long it will take them to get up to speed, particularly the first two in Joe and Tyler because they have been out for a while, remains to be seen. It is good to see them back out on the training pitch and it gives everybody a lift."
Early days for Hughton but he needs a win today
Latest Swans news from Steve Cooper
The swans travelled up to Nottingham yesterday afternoon with a full side bar the exception of only Gibbs-White. Light training yesterday evening and a team briefing followed. This morning the swans will arrive early at the ground and prepare in the dressing room areas, Not ideal but it’s a very early kick off. if this was a later kick off the side would train outside of Nottingham. Everyone else has travelled as expected including George Byers. Viktor Gyökeres and Jordon Garrick have returned to training having completed a period of self-isolation following positive Coivd-19 tests, and are in contention for Sunday's game. The Swans are continuing to manage the fitness of Andre Ayew and Marc Guehi following their hamstring injuries and both could be involved at The City Ground. Gyökeres will feel he is sure to start, however his recent covid positive test has seen little of him training at Swansea as he has been in Sweden in isolation. Garrick may feature on the bench, but that is the best he can hope for.
Gyökeres has found it hard to maintain a first team place
Team News
Forest
The hosts are hoping to have Welsh International Tyler Blackett and Joe Worrall back in contention by next week for the first time in weeks. This game will definitely come too soon for them. They won’t be selected. Lewis Grabban will also not be ready for this game but is expected to train with the first team within the next seven days.
Injured: Joe Worrall, Tyler Blackett, Fouad Bachirou, Samba Sow, Lewis Grabban
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Swansea City
Andre Ayew missed the Swans' starting line up last time out, but was an heroic sub. He will be assessed ahead of the game to see whether he is fit enough. However he scored the equaliser in the last home game, a draw with Sheffield Wednesday, which ended in total chaos with the referee ruling out a clear winner from Kasey Palmer. If not, Liam Cullen could get the nod once again. However if Cooper does go for a striker it could be the returning Viktor Gyökeres. Marc Guehi also faces a fitness test but is more likely to be match-ready than star striker Ayew who is being very carefully managed by Cooper and assistant Mike Marsh.
Injured: Morgan Gibbs-White
Suspended: None
Nottingham Forest vs Swansea City Head-to-Head
The hosts are unbeaten against the Swans in their last four encounters, all of those being Championship games. Forest are unbeaten at home to Swansea in their last eight games, a run going back to August 2006. **
News from SwanseaCity.com
Korey Smith and Swansea City are ready to keep battling and scrapping for every point as they prepare to face Nottingham Forest on Sunday. The Swans are seventh in the table after Saturdays round of Championship fixtures, suffering just two defeats so far.
And they have shown no shortage of character in ensuring they keep picking up points.
Just in the two games since the recent international break they have shown the grit to see off a late Rotherham rally, before launching a second-half fightback to secure a point — which could have been three — against Sheffield Wednesday. Head coach Steve Cooper has made clear his desire for the Swans to look to dominate games with the ball, but also that the squad must be prepared to battle on the days when things are not going their way. And Smith wants to see those qualities carried forward in this busy spell up to Christmas and New Year.
Korey Smith
"The club hasn't won after the international break for a long time, so four points after the international break is a good return. We'll take the positives,” said the midfielder, who suffered a nasty cut to his calf against the Owls. We didn't give up in midweek, we kept going and played some good stuff in the second half. We will look to carry that on into Sunday. We believe in ourselves. You've got to tire teams out, it's never going to be easy because our opponents have top players as well. You have to be prepared to battle, and I think we are showing that we are. We're always confident in our ability and we'll go into Sunday full of confidence. Hopefully, we can get the three points."
Korey is looking for the win today
Today’s game kicks off at midday and is on Sky Sports
Teams
Nottingham Forest: Brice Samba, Cyrus Christie, Tobias Figueiredo, Yuri Ribeiro, Jack Colback (captain), Sammy Ameobi, Miguel Guerrero, Ryan Yates, Scott McKenna, Anthony Knockaert, Lyle Taylor.
Substitutes: Jordan Smith, Loic Soh, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Mighten, Cafu, Joe Lolley, Harry Arter, Nicolas Ioannou, Will Swan.
Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Ryan Bennett, Marc Guehi; Connor Roberts, Korey Smith, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain), Jake Bidwell; Andre Ayew, Jamal Lowe.
Substitutes: Steven Benda, Ryan Manning, Jordon Garrick, Ben Cabango, Kasey Palmer, Liam Cullen, Wayne Routledge, Viktor Gyokeres, Yan Dhanda.