Vital Forest News

Predicted: O’Neill to drop English duo against Rotherham, defender and playmaker to start

|

With Nottingham Forest having no fresh injuries ahead of Saturday afternoon’s meeting with Rotherham United, Martin O’Neill could name an unchanged side from the one that beat Swansea City at the end of March. It’s more likely, however, that he’ll make a couple of tweaks as Forest’s opponents are out of form.

Rotherham are currently 22nd in the Championship and one point adrift of safety with seven games remaining. They’re coming off the back of three defeats from their last four and have the worst defensive record in the division (67).

O’Neill might be more bold in his team selection as a result by including Joao Carvalho in the starting lineup. Ryan Yates could be the one to give way as Ben Watson and Jack Colback can provide the necessary protection in the middle of the park.

That means, Costel Pantilimon should start in goal while Yohan Benalouane and Molla Wague partner each other at centre-back. Tendayi Darikwa should start at right-back but Ben Osborn might be dropped for Jack Robinson at left-back after struggling against Swansea.

Carvalho could operate ahead of a central midfield containing Colback and Watson, while Joe Lolley and Matty Cash should start either side of Lewis Grabban in attack.

Crippy Cooke’s previous article

https://forest.vitalfootball.co.uk/injury-boost-for-nottingham-forest-ahead-of-rotherham-clash-fan-favourite-returns/

Share this article

Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.