Nottingham Forest v Wolves Betting Tips: Lively encounter but not much between the sides

Nuno Espirito Santo takes on his former club Wolves at the City Ground on Saturday as his side looks for their first home win of the 24/25 campaign.

Gary O’Neill’s Wolves will be wounded animals after a heavy defeat to Chelsea last weekend and he will be wanting a response from his pack this time around. Some of the defending that day was non-existent and there will have been a serious microscope put on certain players this week in training.

O’Neill to tighten up defensively

Forest recorded a draw at home with Bournemouth 1-1 and won at Southampton 1-0 in their last game, so have had a more than steady start to this season with just the 1 goal conceded. Wolves on the other hand have lost 2-0 and 6-2 in their opening matches away at Arsenal and home to Chelsea respectively.

As a result, they currently sit in the bottom three in the fledgling Premier League standings. Granted the standard of opposition was completely different but shipping 8 goals in 2 games is concerning.

Clearly after shipping that amount of goals in 2 games, it wouldn’t be a surprise if O’Neill tries to make his side more difficult to break down and more solid in defence. He came under criticism after last weekend’s second-half collapse against The Blues and hinted in his post-match interview that his side need to be more sound defensively. He hammered home the fact they can’t give away cheap goals to the opposition like they did against Chelsea.

Wolves to drop the gung-ho approach?

Wolves have been renowned for their attacking, almost gung-ho style football under the manager, but I feel these principles will be abandoned against The Reds as they look to tighten things up and attempt to record their first points of the season.

Forest are looking to establish themselves again as a top-flight team and not be involved in any relegation battle this campaign as they have been in the previous two seasons.

Forest not shot shy!

Espirito Santo had The Reds play aggressive front-foot football at home but they have struggled in some matches at the City Ground to get over the line with three points. The match against Bournemouth on the opening day was a prime example of this, as they conceded a late equaliser to The Cherries despite dominating the game.

So far in their two games they have had 37 shots at goal yet have scored just twice, so would need to show more cutting edge if they are to get a victory. This shoot-on-sight approach from Espirito Santo’s side will certainly test Wolves’ defensive stability, but O’Neill’s men also have enough about them going forward to cause Forest issues of their own.

An end-to-end game on the cards

Last campaign Wolves scored in 31 of their 38 matches and forward players Matheus Cunha and summer signing Jorgen Strand Larsen have already found the net this season. They will look to cause the Forest rearguard some problems, particularly on the counter-attack.

The game could have quite a basketball feel to it with both sides trading attacks.

Both sides to cancel each other out

With Forest conceding 67 goals and Wolves 65 goals during the 23/24 season, the 6th and 8th most in the league respectively, there is a fair argument to suggest that backing both teams to score at 4/6 with Bet365 might be worth a bet. I feel there is a better value option for this game though, with Unibet offering the best price of 27/10 for the draw.

Forest’s lack of clinical edge in front of goal, particularly at home, is an issue under Espirito Santo. Additionally, their failure to see out games is definitely an Achilles heel for them, and it could be the thing that stops them from turning one point into three in this one.

Add to that the fact Wolves are looking to avoid an unwanted third successive defeat to start the season. They would welcome a point to get off the board for the 24/25 term and respond to their capitulation in the last game against Chelsea with a more solid ‘back to basics’ performance.

Take the 27/10 draw at Unibet

The truth is a point for both teams wouldn’t be a disaster in this clash, and it looks good value at 27/10.

Bet £10 and get £40 in bonus bets at Unibet today.

Nottingham Forest v Wolves Best Bet

Best Bet

• Market: 1x2
• Selection: Draw
• Odds: 27/10
• Stake: 0.75pt
• Bookie: Unibet

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