Nottingham Forest will beat Sheffield United and progress to the Play-Off Final at Wembley, according to former Reds midfielder Carlton Palmer who has been talking to Football League World.
Steve Cooper’s team hold a slender one-goal advantage from the first leg. They were 2-1 winners at Bramall Lane and frankly, it was the least Forest deserved.
Goals from Jack Colback and Brennan Johnson were enough to put Forest 2-0 up in South Yorkshire. A late Sander Berge goal has given the Blades a lifeline this evening.
Palmer played 16 times for Forest in 1999 when the club last operate in the Premier League. His stay was short-lived and he was eventually offloaded to Coventry.
Despite a pretty underwhelming spell at the City Ground, he does think the Reds will get over the line tonight and reach the play-off final.
He told Football League World: “Although Forest didn’t put the game to bed in the first leg, my gut feeling is that back at the City Ground, when Sheffield United eventually have to open up, my feeling is Forest will catch them on the break and will go through.”
The City Ground is sure to be rocking tonight. Just as Bramall Lane was on Saturday, the crowd is likely to be hostile and Cooper will hope that can be of benefit to Forest.
Palmer has a point but Forest must play with their head
It will be interesting to see whether Forest maintain their attacking style of play. Cooper is very much of the opinion that attacking is the best form of defending and that’s an admirable trait.
That said, they need to be sensible. The longer the game goes on with the scores level, the more than Sheffield United will have to take the game to Forest.
Palmer makes a good point that if they do that too often, Forest could pick them off. With the likes of Johnson, Philip Zinckernagel and Sam Surridge in attack, the Reds will fancy causing the Blades some problems.
Supporters will certainly hope that Palmer is right and that Forest can book themselves a place at Wembley for the first time since it ditched the famous towers.