BETTING GUIDE: Nottingham Forest vs Ferencvarosi, match preview, team news and betting tip
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Reading Time: 3min | Wed. 28.01.26. | 17:07
With the final round looming, Forest are chasing an outside chance of automatic last-16 qualification, while the visitors arrive focused on preserving their place inside the top eight
Nottingham Forest host Robbie Keane’s Ferencváros at the City Ground on Thursday night as the Europa League league phase reaches its conclusion.
With the final round looming, Forest are chasing an outside chance of automatic last-16 qualification, while the visitors arrive focused on preserving their place inside the top eight.
Forest head into this encounter slightly bruised after a chaotic 1-0 defeat away to Braga last week, a game that summed up their European campaign’s fine margins.
That loss dropped them to 16th in the standings on 11 points, three shy of the top eight, meaning anything less than a win would condemn them to the playoffs.
Domestically, however, there was a timely response as Sunday’s 2-0 Premier League victory at Brentford extended their unbeaten league run to three matches and eased relegation fears.
In the Europa League, Forest’s overall record stands at three wins, two draws and two defeats, with goals rarely an issue - they are averaging 1.57 goals scored per match while conceding exactly one per game.
Home form in Europe has been a clear positive.
Forest have won two of their three Europa League matches at the City Ground, beating Porto and Malmö by an aggregate score of 5-0.
That said, their broader home form is less convincing, having failed to win their last three matches there in all competitions and conceding two or more goals in three of their last five home outings.
Injuries and absences also shape the picture: Chris Wood and John Victor remain sidelined, Elliot Anderson is suspended, and several attackers are ineligible.
Much of Forest’s attacking threat will again rest on Igor Jesus, who has four Europa League goals and found the net at the weekend, supported creatively by Morgan Gibbs-White.
Ferencváros arrive in Nottingham as one of the competition’s most resilient sides.
Alongside Freiburg and Viktoria Plzeň, they are among the only teams yet to lose in this season’s Europa League, compiling a record of four wins and three draws to sit seventh on 15 points.
Victory here would secure a top-eight finish and automatic qualification, while defeat could drag them into the playoff mix.
Robbie Keane’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Panathinaikos last week and followed that with a 3-1 domestic loss to Győr, meaning they have won none of their last four matches in all competitions.
Despite that wobble, their European away form stands out.
Ferencváros have taken seven points from three away Europa League matches and remain unbeaten on the road in all competitions this season.
Goals have been a consistent feature of their European games: six of their seven Europa League matches have seen both teams score, and they average 1.71 goals scored and one conceded per match.
With Barnabás Varga having departed earlier this month, responsibility in attack now falls to players like Bamidele Yusuf, Kristoffer Zachariassen and Zsombor Gruber.
There is no meaningful recent head-to-head history between these sides, but several betting-relevant trends stand out.
Key pointers;
Nottingham Forest have netted at least twice in five of their seven Europa League games.
Forest are conceding an average of one goal per match in the competition.
Both teams have scored in six of Ferencváros’ seven Europa League fixtures.
Ferencváros have failed to score in just one away match in all competitions this season.
The visitors are also allowing roughly one goal per game in the Europa League.
All factors point towards goals at both ends. Forest’s attacking output at home in Europe contrasts with their defensive inconsistency, while Ferencváros’ unbeaten
European run has been built on scoring regularly rather than shutting games down. With neither side well served by caution, the standout betting angle is
Prediction: Both Teams to Score (BTTS)
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