How will Nottingham’s new coach fare in his debut?
On Thursday evening, Nottingham Forest and FC Porto will face each other in the UEFA Europa League. Nottingham recently dismissed coach Postecoglou after four defeats and ten consecutive games without a win. According to media reports, Sean Dyche is set to take over. It remains to be seen whether he can stop the Tricky Trees’ negative trend. Porto are a tough opponent: the Portuguese have won nine of their ten competitive games this year and only drew against Benfica. Therefore, we are placing our Nottingham vs. Porto bet on “Porto to win.”
For Nottingham Forest, the match against FC Porto is a first – it is their first encounter with a Portuguese opponent in a major European competition. The English side can hope for a strong record from their league rivals: English teams are unbeaten in ten UEFA Europa League games against Portuguese teams (three wins, seven draws). However, Forrest have lost their last four games in a row at home – but goals are guaranteed at City Ground: only one of their five home games has seen fewer than three goals scored. That’s why we’re predicting over 2.5 goals in our Nottingham vs. Porto prediction.
Callum Hudson-Odoi and Elliot Anderson are particularly in focus at Forest. The duo have created the most chances from open play in the current Europa League season (seven each). Forest’s playing style is also striking: when they fall behind, they maintain an average of 67.9 percent possession – significantly more than when they are in the lead (38.2 percent).
FC Porto are celebrating an anniversary – it is their 50th game against an English opponent in a major European competition. This puts them in an exclusive club that only Barcelona (87), Bayern Munich (67), Real Madrid (60), and Juventus (53) belong to. However, Porto does not only have fond memories of English teams: no club has suffered more defeats against English clubs than the Portuguese (27).
This makes the motivation to make history all the greater – Porto could win the first three games of a European cup season for the first time since the 2012/13 Champions League season. However, this will not be a walk in the park, so we are betting that both teams will score at Nottingham vs. Porto odds of 1.62 at Betano.
Nottingham – Porto Head-to-head record
This is the first ever meeting between the two teams.
Nottingham – Porto Tip
Despite their current poor form, Nottingham Forest go into this game as slight favorites thanks to their individual quality. They benefit from the record of their compatriots, who are unbeaten in ten Europa League games against Portuguese teams. In addition, no club has suffered more defeats against English clubs than the Portuguese. So if you value these statistics, you can still secure Nottingham vs. Porto betting odds of 2.52 on the hosts.
Porto, on the other hand, are currently in strong form and are unbeaten in all ten competitive games this season, with nine wins. The Portuguese also seem to have no problems away from home: they have won all five games, four of them without conceding a goal. The only goal they conceded was against Sporting. We can look forward to seeing whether Porto can maintain their form or whether Nottingham can take advantage of the new coach effect to win again after ten games!
