Braga are in poor form but remain hard to beat at home. Nottingham Forest are flirting with relegation and can’t be backed with any confidence, my money on a draw in the Europa League.
HTH
This will be the first match between Braga and Nottingham Forest.
Braga Inconsistent
Braga are still hurting after exiting two competitions this month. They beat Benfica 3-1 in the League Cup semi-finals before squandering a 1-0 lead to local rivals Vitoria de Guimaraes in the final.
Carlos Vicens’ side suffered a 2-1 loss at Fafe in the Portuguese Cup quarter-finals, a humiliating defeat against the third division club.
The Warriors had a lot of luck at Tondela on Sunday. Gustaf Lagerbielke was sent off before Lukas Hornicek saved a late penalty, Rodrigo Zalazar scoring from the spot in added time to secure a 1-0 victory.
Vicens discussed the inconsistency, saying: “Well, I think what was missing was consistently maintaining a very high level, which isn't easy, especially within a process with a new coach who brought new ideas.”
“Then, there was also a schedule where the first games demanded points. So, from the beginning there was this demand that will always exist at Braga, but which meant the team barely had time to breathe.
“Within this growth process, you always had to compete to win, and there were ups and downs along the way.”
Forest in a Relegation Battle
Nottingham Forest won three straight games in November and picked up three victories in December, but the wheels have now fallen off in a hurry.
Sean Dyche saw his side lose four consecutive matches across the new year break, including a 2-0 home defeat to Everton.
A 2-1 win at West Ham relieved the pressure momentarily, but a penalty shootout defeat at Wrexham in the FA Cup turned up the heat on the manager.
Forest earned a 0-0 draw against Arsenal on Saturday, ending the contest with no shots on target and 0.34-2.10 expected goals.
Dyche commented after the match, saying: "It's not easy playing these sides, the commitment is different. There's the commitment to score a goal of course, but what about the commitment to the shape, the basics, the hard yards of the game?"
"And I thought we did that fantastically well as a group. They still had a couple of chances but listen they're a top side and they're flying.
"But to get a clean sheet against them is amazing. We had a couple of chances ourselves but it's hard to open them up, as they've shown all season."
Predicted Lineups & Team News
Braga (3-4-3) Lukas Hornicek; Gustaf Lagerbielke, Sikou Niakate, Bright Arrey Mbi; Victor Gomez, Florian Grillitsch, Joao Moutinho, Leonardo Lelo; Rodrigo Zalazar, Fran Navarro, Ricardo Horta
Jonatas Noro, Sandro Vidigal and Amine El Ouazzani remain out injured. Rodrigo Zalazar is suspended and could be replaced by Gabri Martinez
Expect Vicens to make changes here with Fran Navarro to replace Pau Victor up front.
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1) Matz Sels; Nicolo Savona, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams; Elliot Anderson, Douglas Luiz; Dan Ndoye, Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi; Igor Jesus
Goalkeeper John Victor and striker Chris Wood remain out with knee injuries. Jair Cunha, Ola Aina, Omari Hutchinson and Taiwo Awoniyi are all ineligible.
Nicolo Savona, Douglas Luiz and Dan Ndoye are expected to start in Portugal with Ibrahim Sangare and Nicolas Domínguez making way.