Two weeks on from being knocked out of the League Cup by Burnley, Nottingham Forest will be looking for revenge in the league on Monday. Steve Cooper's side triumphed at the end of the international break thanks to a 1-0 win over Chelsea, while their opponents were beaten 5-2 by an unforgiving Tottenham Hotspur side.
The fixture schedule hasn't been kind to Nottingham Forest in the lead-up to their away games, as they have had to travel to Stamford Bridge again after already losing at the home of Arsenal and Manchester United, although they haven't given up the fight in the process. Cooper's side began their clash with giants Chelsea after being knocked out of the English League Cup by this weekend's opponents, but there was no downturn in Forest's fortunes after being eliminated, as they gave Chelsea another taste of a familiar defeat at Stamford Bridge, thanks to Anthony Erlanga's second-half goal. The combination of Eranga and Taiwo Awoniyi was effective against a Nottingham Forest side at the Emirates Stadium who defended resolutely and were fortunate when Nicholas Jackson missed a great chance to put the game to bed.
After a decent start to the new season, Nottingham Forest have six points from four games going into the weekend's fixtures and they sit ninth in the table, although they have slipped to 12th as a result of Saturday's result. However, by beating Sheffield United in their first home game of the season, Nottingham Forest won their last four Premier League games at the City Ground, although they have not won five consecutive first division games at their home ground since the Brian Clough era in 1991.
Seeking to break up the celebrations at the City Ground and inflict a 100th Premier League defeat on Nottingham Forest, Burnley have recent experience in keeping Nottingham crowds quiet, having progressed to the third round of the English League Cup on August 30 thanks to a last-minute goal from Zeki Amoudoni.
However, aside from a narrow victory in the knockout stages, Burnley fans had little to cheer about at the start of their Premier League return, which left them bottom of the table as one of only two teams yet to score, the other being Luton Town. Burnley enjoyed the convenience of playing their first three games at Turf Moor due to the postponement of the game against the Hatters, but after being heavily beaten by Manchester City and Aston Villa, Burnley were broken at will by Tottenham two weeks ago. Lyle Foster's fourth-minute opener delighted the Champions League winners, but Son's hat-trick, Cristian Romero's rocket and James Maddison's stunning goal completed the Lilywhites' miraculous comeback and there were only faint cheers when Josh Brownhill equalized in the fourth minute of second-half injury time.
Despite having dominated defenses at one point in his career, Comaneri now sees his team concede more goals than any other Premier League team, 11 to be specific, and only in the 2010-11 season did West Ham United concede at least three goals in their first four Premier League games.
SCORE PREDICTION: NOTTINGHAM FOREST 2-0 BURNLEY After a shaky performance on the attacking end of the pitch and conceding goals badly on the defensive end, Burnley's trip to the City Ground looks destined to be another painful one for the Comaneri, despite their success in this matchup in the English League Cup.
