Brentford v Nottingham Forest Saturday 21 November 2015 Griffin Park Kick-off: 3pm
The season so far
Nottingham Forest have only tasted victory in one of their previous nine games which has seen them slump to 18th position in the table. That win was against East Midlands rivals Derby County just before the international break. Their last three away matches have ended in defeat to Preston North End [0-1], Sheffield Wednesday [0-1] and Bristol City [0-2].
Forest have only won four games so far this campaign and exited the Capital One Cup to Walsall 4-3 in the First Round. They have also used the most members of their squad in the league so far this season, starting 26 players with two as subs.
They made only three permanent signings in the summer, bringing in Matt Mills [Bolton Wanderers], Jamie Ward [Derby County] and Daniel Pinillos González [Cordoba], who were all available on free transfers. Forest, precluded from signing players for transfer fees due to the Financial Fair Play embargo placed by the Football League, sold last season’s leading goalscorer Michail Antonio on 1 September for a fee reputed to be around £7m.
Freedman has also delved into the loan market to bring in Kyle Ebecilio [Twente], Chris O’Grady [Brighton and Hove Albion], Ryan Mendes da Graca [Lille], plus Nelson Castro Oliveira [Benfica], all on season long loans. Jonny Williams [Crystal Palace], and Liam Trotter [Bolton Wanderers] have arrived on emergency loans over the past two months.
The Gaffer
Dougie Freedman began his first full season in charge of Forest this summer, having taken over from Stuart Pearce in February. The 41-year-old former striker scored 160 league goals in a 16-year professional career. He made 83 league and cup appearances for the East Midlands club between 1998 and 2000, scoring 23 goals in all competitions.
Freedman has only ever managed in the Sky Bet Championship; starting his career at Crystal Palace in 2011, before moving to Bolton Wanderers and then Forest. The Scottish international is looking to improve his Club’s mid-table finish last season.
The officials
Match Referee: Brendan Malone
Assistant Referees: Robert Hyde and Paul Kelly
Fourth Official: Keith Hill
Ticket news
Visit the Nottingham Forest ticket information page for more details. You can hear live match commentary of the entire match from Griffin Park on Bees Player from 2.30pm on Saturday, with commentator Mark Burridge.