Nottingham Forest face Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday night with a place in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup on offer for the winners.
Steve Cooper’s men return to action after a six-week break for the World Cup, with a trip to Ewood Park on the agenda first up.
A lot has changed since Forest last travelled to Blackburn in February 2022, with the Reds winning promotion since that game.
Steve Cooper is still in charge of Forest but Jon Dahl Tomasson has replaced Tony Mowbray in the Blackburn hot seat.
Despite it being around 10 months since the two sides last played each other, the Forest team is vastly changed and will look a lot different tomorrow night.
Ahead of Forest returning to action, Nottingham Forest News takes a look at the last XI to play Blackburn away.
Nottingham Forest’s last XI to play Blackburn away; only four players will start Carabao Cup clash
Goals from James Garner and Brennan Johnson edged Forest into the Championship top six when the two teams last met.
It proved a hardworking night in the North-West, with Forest facing a side who were hunting down the top two at that point.
The starting XI that night was: Samba, Worrall, Cook, McKenna; Spence, Garner, Colback Yates, Lowe; Johnson, Davis.
Wayne Hennessey has played in both Carabao Cup games so far and he will hope to get the nod over Dean Henderson tomorrow night.
At right-back, Serge Aurier looks set to play, with Neco Williams being allowed a little bit more time off following the World Cup.
Renan Lodi could play at left-back; with both wing-backs from the last visit to Ewood Park not enjoying pastures new this season.
Things may stay pretty similar at centre-back, although only two of the three will play, with Cooper now preferring a different system.
We anticipate that both Scott McKenna and Joe Worrall will play tomorrow night, with Steve Cook likely to be on the bench.
In midfield, Ryan Yates looks likely to start. Jack Colback probably won’t though, whilst James Garner is now an Everton player after they purchased him in the summer.
The likes of Orel Magala and Lewis O’Brien will compete to partner Yates and probably Remo Freuler in the midfield engine room.
Up front, Brennan Johnson could start, with one of Taiwo Awoniyi, Emmanuel Dennis or Sam Surridge starting as the central option.
New arrivals Jesse Lingard and Morgan Gibbs-White will likely compete for the final spot in Cooper’s team.
It will definitely be interesting to see how Cooper plays tomorrow night. On one hand, the Reds will want to win but obviously, the priority is to stay in the Premier League.
Blackburn have started this season pretty well and Forest will need to be ready for tomorrow’s game.
One thing that is certain, is that the team will look a lot different from the last time Forest played there in February.
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