£10m man gets first start since October: Nottingham Forest predicted XI vs Southampton

Add as preferred source on Google

Nottingham Forest face Southampton tonight knowing that a win would take them out of the relegation zone.

The Reds face a Saints team who have lost all three of the matches they have played under the stewardship of Nathan Jones.

Forest will be buoyed by last night’s results and a victory at St Mary’s Stadium tonight would see them go 15th in the league.

Furthermore, they’d go level on points with Leicester who they face next up in the Premier League.

Ahead of tonight’s huge clash on the south coast, we looked at how Steve Cooper could line his team up.

Predicted Nottingham Forest XI to play Southampton:

The Forest rearguard

There won’t be much to change and with no lingering injuries from the Chelsea game things should stay the same.

Dean Henderson was given the afternoon off by the Blues on Sunday and will definitely start in goal.

At central defence, Joe Worrall and Willy Boly are starting to strike up a nice partnership and should continue.

Serge Aurier and Renan Lodi both look comfortable at right and left-back respectively and should keep their places.

The Forest engine room

There could be one change for the Reds in this area of the pitch.

Orel Mangala is striving for full fitness and perhaps Cooper will swap him with Lewis O’Brien tonight in order to give the Belgian a breather.

The former Huddersfield star hasn’t started a game since October and will be itching to get another chance from the off.

Ryan Yates and Remo Freuler are both in fine form and have to be expected to play this evening.

Leading the Forest line

Again, there’s unlikely to be any change here not least because the Reds are short of options.

Jesse Lingard is out for a month with a hamstring injury, whilst Emmanuel Dennis and Sam Surridge could both leave this month.

Gustavo Scapra has travelled with the squad and could be on the bench.

In terms of the starting XI, however, we expect Forest to go with Brennan Johnson and Taiwo Awoniyi on the flanks; with Morgan Gibbs-White once again playing through the middle.

Here is how the Forest XI could look tonight: