Thursday, July 17

[monks data]

Sports Mole previews Saturday's pre-season friendly between Nottingham Forest and Monaco, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Searching for their first win of pre-season at the second attempt, Nottingham Forest tackle Ligue 1 titans Monaco at the SMH Group Stadium in Chesterfield on Saturday.

Nuno Espirito Santo's squad kicked off their summer preparations with a goalless draw versus Chesterfield on July 12, while Adi Hutter's men recently put five past Coventry City without reply.

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Match preview

The Champions League was the dream, the Conference League was the result, but the Europa League is the outcome - at least for now.

Chaos has reigned supreme for Nottingham Forest in 2025, from Evangelos Marinakis's astonishing storming of the pitch to the Tricky Trees' recent promotion to Europe's second-tier competition for 2025-26, courtesy of Crystal Palace's demotion to the Conference League.

The FA Cup winners have been forced to give up their coveted place in Europe's secondary competition due to a bitter ownership dispute with UEFA, and while the Eagles will appeal with all their might, Forest are currently bound for next season's Europa League.

Regardless, Nuno Espirito Santo's squad will represent England on the continent next season thanks to their seventh-placed Premier League finish, ending a 29-year dry spell without European football at the City Ground, where Brazilian new boys Igor Jesus and Jair Cunha will soon be getting used to their new surroundings.

At the same time, Santo is adapting to life without Newcastle United-bound Anthony Elanga, but the club are going legal to try to avoid losing fellow integral attacker Morgan Gibbs-White to Tottenham Hotspur, who apparently remain confident of getting a deal over the line.

Amid all the off-field carnage, Forest's pre-season began in less dramatic fashion in last weekend's goalless draw with Chesterfield, and the Garibaldi also face Fulham, Estoril, Birmingham City, Fiorentina and Al-Qadsiah within the next few weeks.

As Forest wait to learn whether the Europa League or Conference League awaits, a Paul Pogba-reinforced Monaco are already gearing up for another shot at Champions League success, however fanciful that may sound.

While Paris Saint-Germain sailed off into the sunset as is customary in Ligue 1, Adi Hutter's men were battling several teams for the right to be labelled best of the rest, competing with Marseille, Nice and Lille for the silver medal.

Second place ultimately belonged to Marseille, but Les Monegasques took home the bronze medal and a coveted place in the league phase of the Champions League, where their run ended at the hands of Benfica in last season's knockout playoffs.

Monaco's bid for further progression in Europe has started on the right foot in pre-season, as Hutter's men recently followed up an opening 1-0 win over Cercle Brugge with a 5-0 battering of Coventry, where the highly-rated Maghnes Akliouche struck a 26-minute hat-trick in the second half.

The 2016-17 Ligue 1 champions also have exhibition battles with Arminia Bielefeld and Ajax to look forward to, before kicking off the new French top-flight campaign at home to Le Havre on August 17.

Nottingham Forest pre-season form:

D

Monaco pre-season form:

W W

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Team News

Gibbs-White was absent from Forest's draw with Chesterfield amid the speculation surrounding his future; his omission naturally sent tongues wagging, but he was simply being given more time off after his international exploits.

The Tottenham target has since returned to training alongside the likes of Chris Wood, Ibrahim Sangare, Matz Sels and Taiwo Awoniyi - now in the last stages of his recuperation from his distressing abdominal injury - but new arrivals Jesus and Cunha are recovering from their Club World Cup exploits.

Speaking of recovering, Neco Williams (ankle) and Nicolas Dominguez (knee) are still in the treatment room, but the Tricky Trees are in strong shape otherwise.

On Monaco's end, it would be a shock to see Pogba line up at Chesterfield's stadium this weekend, as the ex-Manchester United man is still working his way back to fitness after his lengthy absence.

Barcelona loanee Ansu Fati was also nowhere to be seen against Coventry so is in the same boat, but Eric Dier ought to make an appearance after playing 45 minutes of Monaco's most recent friendly.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Miguel; Aina, Carmo, Murillo, Richards; Yates, O'Brien; Jota, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood

Monaco possible starting lineup:

Majecki; Teze, Salisu, Singo, Henrique; Minamino, Zakaria, Camara, Akliouche; Biereth, Embolo

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We say: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Monaco

 

Full-time scorelines matter little in pre-season friendlies, where both Santo and Hutter will simply endeavour to get as many minutes into as many players' legs as possible.

However, as Les Monegasques have already flexed their attacking muscles this summer, we have faith in the Ligue 1 powerhouses to continue on their upward path and edge a closely-contested battle.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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