Nottingham Forest will still be bouncing following their sensational victory on the road against Liverpool last weekend.
Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side will have to wait until Sunday to play again, though with Brighton & Hove Albion in action during the week in the Carabao Cup.
But Forest will welcome an extra day of preparation as they face another difficult away trip down to the south coast this time.
Despite enduring a relegation fight for a large spell of the 2023/24 campaign, Forest have made an unbeaten start to the new season.
Not many will have had the Reds down to make as bright of a start as they have as they sit firmly inside the top half of the table.
There may even be a feeling that points were left out on the pitch against Bournemouth and Wolves during their City Ground draws.
But on the road, Forest have now taken six points from a possible six against Southampton and Liverpool.
Paul Merson shares his Brighton & Hove Albion vs Nottingham Forest prediction
There were positive performances all round for the Reds last week against Liverpool with Murillo really impressing Paul Taylor at Anfield.
And Forest are going to need to be at a high level again this weekend if they are going to get anything out of a Brighton side who have also impressed early on.
Both sides are sitting on eight points with the Seagulls only one place higher than the Reds on goal difference.
Ahead of the game, Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has shared his prediction for the game on the south coast following Forest’s unexpected win against Liverpool.
“Nottingham Forest were phenomenal against Liverpool at Anfield. But I just think this is a really tough game for them,” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“I’m backing Forest to get another point here simply because of how they performed at Anfield. If they had lost that game, Id be rooting for Brighton. Nuno Espirito Santo will stick to the same plan he deployed against Liverpool and it’s alright since it worked so well the other day.
“But Forest should be careful of not being one or two goals down quickly in this game because Brighton move the ball a lot quicker than Liverpool. A draw could be a really good result for Forest.”
Nottingham Forest could make seriously impressive start with Brighton result
Having come away from the game at Anfield with an unexpected three points, the pressure can now be taken off Forest ahead of the game on Sunday.
Of course, there is not a great deal of room for error in the Premier League but Forest should certainly be going into the trip to the south coast feeling at ease.
The Reds have shocked a number of people with Forest heavily tipped for relegation by a lot of people before the season began.
And adding further points to the board would make for a start to the new term which not many of the Forest fans would have dreamt of.
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