Nottingham Forest vs Newcastle United

A place in the third round of the League Cup is on the line as Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United lock horns at the City Ground.

Determined to avoid another dramatic Premier League campaign following a sub-par 17th-place finish in 2023/24, Nottingham Forest have got the new league campaign off to a promising start. After a frustrating 1-1 home draw against Bournemouth on day one, the Tricky Trees grabbed a morale-boosting 1-0 win at newly-promoted Southampton, building a head of steam from the get-go. Progressing from this tie would instill further confidence within Nuno Espirito Santo’s camp, and it’s hard to put it past Forest to defy the odds at the City Ground. Indeed, they’ve ousted Newcastle from their last two League Cup ties, most recently beating them 3-1 in August 2018. Moreover, they recorded partial success against the Magpies in the 2023/24 Premier League season (W1, L1), with each game seeing the winner on the day score precisely three goals.

Encouragingly for Newcastle United, they won 3-2 on this ground in February en route to a seventh-place finish. However, the Magpies failed to qualify for European competitions due to Manchester United’s FA Cup triumph, and part of the reason was their disappointing cup form. Eddie Howe’s men failed to replicate their League Cup run to the grand final in 2022/23 last term, bowing out in the quarter-finals at the hands of Chelsea. The visitors have enjoyed a decent start to the new campaign, beating Southampton 1-0 on matchday one before fighting back to hold Bournemouth to a 1-1 draw. They’ll be confident of stretching their unbeaten run at the start of 2024/25 after winning their last two visits to Nottingham.