Nuno Espirito Santo is forced into two changes in Nottingham Forest's predicted XI vs Brentford

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Nottingham Forest travel to Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, aiming to make it three consecutive wins for the second time this season.

Forest beat Aston Villa last time out, which came off the back of a famous result at Old Trafford as Forest won against Manchester United.

These results catapulted Nuno Espirito Santo’s side into fourth in the Premier League table, sending a clear message that the Forest squad are genuine contenders for European football this season.

To ensure they back this message up, Espirito Santo will be hoping for another positive away result, this time against Brentford. Bees boss Thomas Frank is wary of Chris Wood and his goalscoring potential in the fixture, but Brentford’s strong home form will make the occasion a difficult one for Forest.

Espirito Santo was rather cagey in his pre-match press conference in regards to his players’ fitness, making the task of predicting his starting XI for the trip to London a tough task.

Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Nottingham Forest team news vs Brentford

There was some good news regarding one Forest star, as Espirito Santo gave a positive Danilo update in his press conference, but he delivered a cautious update on the rest of his squad.

He said: “We have a lot of things to assess in terms of problems we have from the previous game [vs Aston Villa].

“We have issues but we still have tomorrow [Friday] to assess the players before heading to London.”

Espirito Santo provided cautious updates on Ryan Yates and Murillo in the wake of the Villa clash, but neither player was ruled out or declared fit ahead of Brentford.

Nottingham Forest’s predicted XI to play Brentford

Given the Forest manager’s coy response, it is hard to predict whether Yates or Murillo will be fit to face Brentford but given that both were substituted it is safe to assume the knocks were of concern.

For that reason, we expect both to drop out of the starting lineup, with Morato replacing Murillo and Nicolas Dominguez moving back into the centre after starting out wide against Villa.

Neco Williams should keep his place over Alex Moreno, who missed the Villa clash as he could not play against his former club.

We also expect Anthony Elanga to start given his exceptional cameo from the bench against Villa. Forest fans praised Elanga for his stoppage-time winner at the City Ground, which should see him earning an opportunity from the start.

Nottingham Forest predicted lineup

Matz Sels (GK)

Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Morato, Neco Williams

Elliot Anderson, Nicolas Dominguez

Anthony Elanga, Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi

Chris Wood

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