Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Europa League clash between Nottingham Forest and Porto, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Sean Dyche will take charge of his first game as Nottingham Forest head coach on Thursday night when the Tricky Trees welcome Portuguese giants Porto to the City Ground for matchday three of the Europa League.
While Porto are one of seven teams who boast a 100% record in the League Phase, Forest are still searching for their first European victory of the season.
Match preview
Nottingham Forest are preparing for life under a third manager in what has been an eventful 2025-26 season and we are yet to enter the month of November, after controversial owner Evangelos Marinakis opted to sack both Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou within the space of six weeks.
The latter was brutally relieved of his duties just 18 minutes after Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea and his miserable, winless reign (W0 D2 L6), lasting just 39 days, is the shortest in Premier League history among permanent managers.
Sitting in the relegation zone with just five points, Forest confirmed the appointment of Dyche on Tuesday on a contract until June 2027. The 54-year-old former Forest youth player, who has been out of work since being sacked by Everton in January, has added Forest fan favourites Ian Woan and Steve Stone to his coaching staff, and their immediate task is to stop the rot at the City Ground.
Forest have failed to win any of their last 10 matches (D3 L7) across all competitions since beating Brentford 3-1 on the opening weekend of the Premier League season. During this period, the Tricky Trees have picked up just one point from their first two League Phase fixtures in the Europa League, with a 2-2 draw at Real Betis followed by a 3-2 home defeat to FC Midtjylland.
Excluding qualifiers, Dyche is gearing up for his first ever European match as a manager and he will hope to make an instant impact in the dugout for a Forest side who have lost their last four games at the City Ground, failing to score and also conceding exactly three goals in three of those matches.
While Forest find themselves down in the dumps, Porto are in high spirits as they have made an impressive start to their campaign, winning 10 and drawing one of their 11 matches across all tournaments, scoring two or more goals on eight occasions.
Francesco Farioli’s side sit three points clear at the top of the Primeira Liga table. They played out a goalless stalemate with rivals Benfica in their last league match before the international break, but they responded by cruising to a 4-0 away victory over fourth-tier outfit Celoricense in the Taca de Liga third round last weekend.
Samu Aghehowa scored a 10-minute hat-trick in the second half to increase his goal tally for the season to eight in nine appearances, though he is yet to make the net ripple in the Europa League this term, with Porto beating Red Bull Salzburg (1-0) and Red Star Belgrade (2-1) in their opening two matches.
Seeking to begin a European campaign with three wins in a row for the first time since 2012-13, Porto will fancy their chances of success on Thursday, as they travel to Forest having already won all six of their away matches this season by an impressive aggregate score of 16-1.
Forest will at least take some comfort from the fact that Porto have only come out on top in 10 of their previous 49 encounters with English opposition (D12 L27), with their only win in 24 away matches coming at Chelsea in April 2021 (1-0 in the Champions League).
Nottingham Forest Europa League form:
D L
Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):
D D L L L L
Porto Europa League form:
W W
Porto form (all competitions):
W W W W D W
Team News
Nottingham Forest’s only injury concern is with full-back Ola Aina, who is recovering from hamstring surgery, while Taiwo Awoniyi, Omari Hutchinson, Jair Cunha and Angus Gunn are all ineligible after being left out of the club’s Europa League squad.
The Tricky Trees played with a back five in Postecoglou’s final match against Chelsea last weekend, but Dyche may switch to a four-man defence on Thursday, which could see Morato make way from the first XI.
Captain Ryan Yates could be recalled in midfield at the expense of either Douglas Luiz or Ibrahim Sangare, while Chris Wood – who played under Dyche at Burnley – Igor Jesus, Dan Ndoye and Callum Hudson-Odoi will all be vying for starts in attack.
As for Porto, Luuk de Jong and Nehuen Perez remains sidelined with knee ligament injuries, while Tomas Perez and Yann Karamoh are both ineligible for the Europa League.
Farioli is expected to revert to his strongest possible side, with former Southampton defender Jan Bednarek set to continue alongside Arsenal loanee Jakub Kiwior, Alberto Costa and Francisco Moura in the back four.
Alan Varela, Gabri Veiga and Victor Froholdt are the most likely trio to begin in centre-midfield, while star striker Samu Aghehowa could be joined in the final third by former Norwich City playmaker Borja Sainz and Brazilian winger Pepe.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Zinchenko; Ndoye, Yates, Anderson, Hudson-Odoi; Gibbs-White; Wood
Porto possible starting lineup:
D. Costa; A .Costa, Bednarek, Kiwior, Moura; Froholdt, Varela, Veiga; Pepe, Samu, Sainz
We say: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Porto
The City Ground should be bouncing for an eagerly-anticipated European night and Nottingham Forest’s players will be keen to impress under their new manager. However, whether Dyche can immediately implement his ideas remains to be seen.
Dyche’s teams pride themselves on defensive stability, which is what Forest have lacked for some time, not keeping a clean sheet since April 1. A quick fix against a high-flying, goal-hungry Porto outfit is unlikely, so the hosts may have to wait a little while longer for their first Europa League win of the campaign.
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