Forest On A Friday Night… Bring It On!

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 03: A general view of the stadium from the new 'Keel Crossing' bridge prior to the Premier League match between Sunderland and Everton at Stadium of Light on November 03, 2025 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) | Getty Images

There’s no easy game in the Premier League. We all know that by now and every weekend, there’s a ‘banana skin’ with somebody’s name on it — and more often than not, it’s been ours.

Nottingham Forest will rock up at the Stadium of Light on Friday night.

Sixteenth in the table and unbeaten in five (with three draws in there, mind, so not exactly pulling up trees), but that’s sort of the problem. When a team is going about its business quietly, refusing to lose and with a new manager doing his level best to haul them clear of trouble, you don’t want them turning up at your place with anything to prove.

And make no mistake: they’ll have something to prove. Vitor Pereira is their fourth manager of the season. Yes, fourth.

Forest are awkward and dour. They’ll sit in, give us the ball and dare us to do something with it. That, whisper it, is where we’ve wobbled this season.

We’re class on the counter and superb when there’s space to run into, but give us a packed defence and a clock ticking down, and suddenly the legs get heavy and the passes start going sideways. A cheap shot? Maybe, but you’ve seen it too.

Friday is a chance to put all of that right — at home, under the lights, with the crowd up for it and on the front foot from the first whistle.