Nottingham Forest vs Southampton Predictions

• Nottingham Forest have lost only two of their last 13 home league games
• Southampton are winless in nine league matches
• Four of Forest’s six home wins this season have ended 1-0

Forest can edge out relegation rivals

The bookmakers are not giving Southampton much of a hope in their pursuit of Premier League survival and defeat at relegation rivals Nottingham Forest on Monday could be the final nail in the coffin.

The Saints are rooted to the foot of the Premier League table and go into this crunch clash at the City Ground four points adrift of third-bottom Forest.

But while the Tricky Trees have hope in their bid to stave off the drop, things are looking increasingly bleak for Southampton, who have failed to win any of their last nine league games.

While there have been some promising recent efforts – most notably the 3-3 draw at Arsenal – there have been plenty of below-par ones too, which includes a recent 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth.

Forest, on the other hand, are playing quite well with the end of season in sight and their last home game saw them run out 3-1 winners at home to Europa League-chasing Brighton.

That vital victory over the Seagulls was sandwiched in between away losses at Liverpool and Brentford, who struck in the 94th-minute to snatch all three points.

Having also narrowly lost out 3-2 against Liverpool at Anfield, manager Steve Cooper will rightly be disappointed. However it is their results at home that have been eye-catching and it is their final two games at the City Ground that could keep them up.

The Tricky Trees have lost only two of their 13 home league games since October and those reverses came against top-four duo Newcastle and Manchester United.

Otherwise, home support has been a great aid to Cooper’s crew who have picked up 24 of their 30 points at their beloved Nottinghamshire base.

That sequence of results on their patch features a win over Liverpool and a draw over Manchester City, but more importantly they have recorded successes over Leeds and Leicester, two other struggling sides.

So at odds-against, Forest look good value to heap more misery on Southampton and, in what promises to be a cagey affair, a 1-0 scoreline may be best the margin of victory.

Four of Forest’s six home league wins this season have ended 1-0 while Southampton have failed to score in three of their last five away games, two of which ended in 1-0 defeats.