Important events
33 minutes: Adingra has to rush back to clear one of these Forest counterattacks. Then there is a struggle between Moreno and the Brighton substitutes as he takes a throw-in. Perhaps distracted, he kicks the ball backwards, resulting in a goal kick.
31 minutes: Mitoma – finally – gets some space, also a good ball, but Forest are able to clear when no Brighton striker applies enough pressure.
30 minutes: Corner from Brighton. Rutter gets to the ball first from Estupinan, but heads it over.
28 minutes: Mitoma was a minor factor in this game. Forest’s midfield is simply too strong for Brighton, whose fans are baffled.
27 minutes: Gibbs-White slides in to win the ball and Brighton continue to struggle, with the Forest fans even breaking into the ‘Olé’ chant.
24 minutes: Baleba, who was responsible for the penalty, is now shown the yellow card for bringing down Elliot Anderson in midfield.
22 minutes: Adingra’s chance is offside and Brighton decide to take a long shot. Fabian Hurzeler looks unhappy. His team is being strangled.
21 minutes: Hudson-Odoi with a terrible miss after Forest’s squeeze play. To save him the embarrassment, he was clearly offside.
19 minutes: Brighton are not in form here at all and the credit for that goes to Nottingham Forest. Nuno has made it difficult for them to play against them.
17 minutes: Phew, mean: Adingra against Moreno. Only one yellow card, but it was high. If not downright mean. And actually not even a yellow card?
16 minutes: Eric Petersen: “Good morning from Pittsburgh! I’m looking for a fact check here – I think Fabian Hurzeler bears more than a passing resemblance to a similarly aged Gary Oldman. Nuno Spirito Santo always reminded me of Jean Reno in his Leon: The Professional look. So I’m already conjuring up an image of a Forest win, followed by the managers meeting to exchange pleasantries, and Nuno looking his counterpart in the eye and growling, “That… is for Mathilda.”
The 1990s – the golden age of film.
14 minutes: You might not think Chris Wood is good at penalties, but maybe that’s a prejudice against big guys. This was a dream. Nuno’s selection of Hudson and Odoi has already paid off.
Goal! Brighton – Nottingham Forest 0-1 (Wood, 13th)
No doubts here either. The ball goes to the left and Verbruggen has no chance.
Penalty for Forest!
Gibbs-White sprints, the ball slides inside to Hudson-Odoi, and Baleba is clumsy. That’s a blocker. Baleba knows that too.
9 minutes: That was the closest decision so far. Rutter pushes Adringra into the goal and the ball flies over the goal. Welbeck was the target, but he couldn’t get to the goal.
7 minutes: After a few high tackles, the referee decides that everyone should calm down because there has been too much violence.
6 minutes: Estupinan on the rise. Good to see him back after his injuries last season. At one point it looked like he would be sold to Brighton for £60m. On the bench, Hurzeler is a bundle of energy and has an exciting technique when he looks at the screens.
4 minutes: Morgan Gibbs-White climbs well and appears to take a hit, but he is able to continue. A quick free kick sends Hudson-Odoi off the pitch. Too quickly: he was offside.
2 minutes: A weak corner is cleared but Brighton continue to press upfield. Forest are probably content to hold back. After all, it worked at Anfield.
Let’s get started with Amex
1 minute: Good noise from the Forest fans with Mull of Kintyre, also from the golden Cloughie era. Brighton force a corner though.
Nuno also speaks: “Anthony (Elanga) and Callum (Hudson-Odoi) – we will try to exploit their talent. The idea is to be compact and solid, exploit our talent, our space and our creativity – we have to play the game and compete very well.”
Fabian Hurzeler speaks, lots of praise for Forest: “I think they have great individual players. They have a good style of play. They are compact. They defend well. They have very good transition moments, so when they win the ball they move it quickly. They have made a great start to the Premier League and that doesn’t surprise me. It will be a big challenge for us.”
For Nottingham ForestIt was a weekend of remembrance. Brian Clough died 20 years ago on Friday.
Joao Pedro is in Brighton’s squad but sits on the benchand Callum Hudson-Odoi starts for Nottingham Forest after scoring the winning goal against Liverpool. Anthony Elanga is also in attack. Simon Adingra replaces Yankuba Minteh on the wing, in tandem with Kaoru Mitoma. Jack Hinshelwood moves from left-back to midfield – such a talent – while the mighty Pervis Estupinan makes his long-awaited return.
The starting teams
Brighton: Verbruggen, Veltman, Dunk, Van Hecke, Estupinan, Baleba, Hinshelwood, Rutter, Adingra, Mitoma, Welbeck. Subscriptions: Steele, Julio, Webster, Kadioglu, Wieffer, Minteh, Enciso, Pedro, Ferguson.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Wood, Hudson-Odoi, Ward-Prowse, Moreno, Elanga, Milenkovic, Aina. Subscriptions: Miguel, Morato, Williams, Awoniyi, Dominguez, Da Silva Moreira, Jota, Yates, Sosa.
Final elimination for both teams.
Early team news
Joao Pedro remains a doubt – he has missed the last two games – and Hurzeler is struggling to score. Brajan Gruda, Solly March, James Milner and Matt O’Riley are all out for long periods.
Forest are expected to be missing Wily Boly and Ibrahim Sangare.
preamble
How can Nottingham Forest follow Anfield? The first win since 1969 has been the surprise of the season so far and it will take a pretty massive event to top that. Nuno is the Forest manager who many doubted and who many expected to be relegated. An unbeaten start to the season suggests otherwise.
Brighton, meanwhile, have made a brilliant start under Fabian Hurzeler and are also unbeaten. Their manager is 31, you know. Regardless, they have played good football, if a little lacking the cutting edge that Graham Potter and Roberto de Zerbi have often failed to find.
So it’s about unbeaten records. Should we call it a draw? No, this could be a good, educational game.
Kick-off is at 2pm UK time. Be there.
