Nottingham Forest vs Everton predictions: Toffees to make their point again at Forest
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- Forest lost 2-1 to Aston Villa last Saturday
- Everton have drawn a league-high 14 games
- Recommended bet: 1-1 Correct Score
With seven games to play, Nottingham Forest remain in the driving seat for Champions League football in the Premier League.
The Tricky Trees are on 57 points in third spot with Chelsea and Newcastle four points behind them, although the Magpies have a game in hand.
Nonetheless, it is in Forest's control, although Nuno Espirito Santo's men slipped up in a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa last Saturday.
The other teams around them could therefore sniff an opportunity and Forest could be vulnerable heading into Saturday's game with Everton, who have been struggling for wins but are equally tough to beat.
Team news
A hip issue continues to rule out top scorer Chris Wood for Nottingham Forest, while Anthony Elanga, Taiwo Awoniyi and Ola Aina are all doubts.
Visitors Everton are set to be missing Jesper Lindstrom, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Vitaly Mykolenko and Orel Mangala for the clash with Forest.
Iliman Ndiaye should start despite coming off with suspected cramp against Arsenal last time out.
The stats
Everton's Premier League matches have featured an average of just 2.29 goals per game this season — the lowest in the division.
Indeed, under 2.5 goals has been a winning selection in each of their last five contests with four of those matches finishing 1-1.
Nottingham Forest have managed just two goals in their last three competitive fixtures.
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Wood and Elanga are likely to miss this contest and the pair have scored a combined 24 of Nottingham Forest's 51 league goals this season.
Prediction
Only Liverpool (38) and Arsenal (34) have picked up more home points in the Premier League than Nottingham Forest (31) this season, and the Tricky Trees are unsurprisingly favourites to win this match.
But the defeat to Aston Villa last Saturday will have hurt and they showed defensive lapses to fall 2-0 down after just 15 minutes at Villa Park.
Forest have generally coped well with the absence of top scorer Wood but that could be starting to catch up with them, especially with other attacking talents such as Elanga and Awoniyi likely to miss this match.
It could therefore be a tentative affair and, while Everton have not shown the form to suggest they can win this game, they could nick a point at the City Ground.
Everton have been draw specialists this season, with 14 stalemates in the Premier League, and they have drawn six of their last eight games.
Interestingly, they drew four of those contests 1-1 against Brentford, Wolves, West Ham and Arsenal.
The Toffees like to keep things tight and a repeat of Saturday's 1-1 scoreline with the Gunners could be the most appealing selection.
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