Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United Betting Tips (18/08/23)

The Build-Up

This is a Friday night clash under the lights at the City Ground which could well be an already pivotal, or at least indicative, encounter with regard to the relegation battle in the Premier League this season. The two teams met in the Championship playoff semi-finals in 2022 and there could be an intensity to this match suggestive of a developing rivalry between the two sets of players and sets of supporters.

Both sides began with slender defeats on the opening day of the season with Nottingham Forest, after a really disappointing and frankly concerning run of performances and results in pre-season, restricting Arsenal to just two goals before scoring themselves late on to set up a potential grandstand finish. The Blades, on the other hand, suffered a 1-0 loss at home to a Crystal Palace side that are expected to be difficult to beat or score against throughout the campaign.

Another similarity shared between the two sides would be the seemingly quite frustrating transfer windows that they have endured. FFP concerns have limited Nottingham Forest’s spending, after making 30 signings last season in their first season back in the top flight. Sheffield United also have a few off-field issues and they began the season having sold two key players, Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge, as well as having lost loanees James McAtee and Tommy Doyle from the end of last season.

Both Steve Cooper and Paul Heckingbottom will view this as a major opportunity to get off the mark with a victory and it could well lead to a fairly entertaining encounter for the neutral. Forest come into the game as Evens favourites with Bet365 whilst Sheffield United are priced at 7/2 to win with the same bookmaker. The draw is available at 5/2 with William Hill.

Betting Trends to Watch

Nottingham Forest managed to score more than one goal in a game on just seven occasions in their 19 Premier League home games last season. Of those seven games, three came against the bottom three teams that were relegated (Leeds, Leicester and Southampton), two of those matches were against their fellow newly-promoted sides (Fulham and Bournemouth) and one of the other two came against an Everton side who avoided relegation on the final day of the season.

Given that many believe, and it could be a fair argument, that Nottingham Forest would stand no chance of survival or finding any sort of cohesion with their bizarrely put-together squad if they didn’t have the tactical nous of Steve Cooper, this is a match that is set up for another well-coached Cooper-led performance against a team that do fall into the newly-promoted category and could fall into either of the two aforementioned categories of who Forest managed to properly ‘get at’ at the City Ground last season.

Combined with the fact Sheffield United conceded an expected goals against rate of over two last weekend against a Crystal Palace side that managed an average of under one per game last season, Forest will fancy their chances of exploiting The Blades’ defence. Forest to score 2 goals exactly is 5/2 with William Hill but it could even be worth pushing the risk a bit further and going with Forest scoring 3 goals or more here.

The Form

Nottingham Forest’s defeat at Arsenal on the opening day of the season means that, including pre-season friendlies, The Reds have managed just 2 wins in their last 9 matches and those victories have come against Notts County and Levante. Sheffield United’s loss at home to Crystal Palace means that The Blades have won just 3 of their last 9 games including friendly matches.

Head-to-Head Meetings

Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United have met 140 times in their history, since the first meeting in 1893. Forest have come out on top in 49 of those games and United in 46 in what has been an even rivalry. Of late, Sheffield United have managed just one win in the last nine meetings since 2017. This is the first top-flight clash between the two teams since the first-ever season of the Premier League.

Both teams have scored in each of the previous four meetings so the odds of 21/20 with QuinnBet on that outcome happening could be worth a shout. It’s also worth considering that only 2 of the previous 7 encounters have seen more than 2.5 goals scored. However, those two occasions that has come in has been in the last two matches played between these two teams. Total goals scored over 2.5 can be found at 6/5 with Bet365 for this match.

Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United Betting Tips

As can probably be interpreted with some of the suggestions in this Premier League tips preview so far, a home win looks the good bet for this one and a home win in which Forest do, on the rare occasion, score more than a goal in the game also seems quite likely.

Given that this is also a developing rivalry given the aforementioned feisty playoff semi-finals and the fact it is an early, pardon the really tedious expression, ‘six-pointer’ backing a fair few cards looks good value too.

All odds are accurate at the time of writing.