Preview: Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest – Prediction, Team News, Line-ups

With the blue touchpaper well and truly lit, it would seem wise to stand well back when Crystal Palace entertain Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.

Selhurst Park is a cauldron of noise at the best of times, but the deep sense of injustice harboured by all of a red-and-blue persuasion after Oliver Glasner’s men lost their Europa League place to the visitors is sure to add an extra edge as Palace seek to build on their opening-weekend draw at Chelsea.

Forest dispatched a legal team to the court of arbitration for sport when Palace mounted an unsuccessful appeal against their demotion to the Conference League following a UEFA ruling that they breached multi-club ownership rules, and it is little wonder that the Metropolitan Police are closely monitoring developments ahead of the game.

In any other circumstances, the atmosphere might have been a little more subdued, given Arsenal’s £60m move for the talismanic Palace striker Eberechi Eze. The England international scored 14 goals for the club last term, including the winner in the FA Cup final victory over Manchester City, and came closer than anyone to breaking the deadlock against Chelsea last weekend after a brilliant free-kick was chalked off under a little-known rule. 

Even so, the mood at Selhurst Park is such that even the loss of the club’s star man is unlikely to derail Palace’s determination to put one over on the visitors. 

To do so, however, they will need to defy recent history. Palace are without a win in 10 previous Premier League meetings with Forest, with their last victory coming in the Championship in December 2003.

Forest have started the season in style, putting three past Brentford at the City Ground last weekend. Whether that was indicative of their likely trajectory this season remains to be seen. The team struggled to find the net in pre-season and that, combined with Palace’s outstanding defensive organisation and the fact that Forest have drawn their last four visits, would suggest another stalemate may be in the offing.

Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest team news

Assuming Palace survive Thursday’s night’s Conference League meeting with Fredrikstad unscathed, the only expected change will be to the attacking berth that seems likely to be vacated by the Arsenal-bound Eze. Expect either Justin Devenny or Romain Esse to slot in.

Long-term injury absentee Nicolás Domínguez aside, Forest have not reported any fresh injury concerns at the time of writing.

Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest predicted line-ups

Crystal Palace: Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Sarr, Devenny; Mateta.

Nottingham Forest: Sels; Aina, Milenković, Murillo, Williams; Sangaré, Anderson; Gibbs-White; Ndoye, Hudson-Odoi; Wood.