Nottingham Forest v Brighton: Side with goals and the Seagulls in Bet Builder | OneFootball

English Premier League

Brighton have lost just five times this season

Nottingham Forest welcome Brighton to the City Ground for Saturday's early Premier League kick-off. Betfair writer Mark O'Haire is expecting the Seagulls to produce a competitive effort.

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Nottingham Forest vs BrightonSaturday February 1, 12:30Live on Sky Sports

Forest fall apart at Bournemouth

Nottingham Forest endured an afternoon to forget as they were thumped 5-0 at in-form Bournemouth last weekend. The Tricky Trees - this season's surprise package having risen to third in the Premier League - fell apart under Bournemouth's barrage, suffering their worst day of the campaign and a sobering 90 minutes on the south coast.

All the qualities that have characterised Forest were missing, from the moment their water-tight defence tamely retreated in the ninth minute, allowing Justin Kluivert time and space to set Bournemouth on their way. The normally reliable Murillo had a nightmare afternoon, while Matz Sels also experienced a rare off day between the sticks.

Assessing the encounter post-match, boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: "Nobody expected a game like this. Bournemouth were better than us. Realising what we did wrong - a lot of things. Usually, our strengths are when we block and are compact. When we give space to our opponents, things get harder. The second half was very bad - we have to be better."

Brighton fail to fire

Brighton's unbeaten start to 2025 came to an end as the Seagulls suffered a limp 1-0 loss to Everton at The Amex last weekend. Fabian Hurzeler's side, who had beaten both Ipswich and Manchester United in their previous two fixtures, managed just one shot on-target - a blocked Joao Pedro effort in the first half - despite enjoying 69% of possession.

Albion were furious at referee Tim Robinson's decision to award a penalty against Joel Veltman, who appeared to deliberately shepherd the ball out of play with his hand while under pressure inside the area. Iliman Ndiaye converted from the spot and his first-half penalty proved decisive in spite of a second-half improvement from Brighton.

Hurzeler, who was understandably frustrated with his team's performance, said: "We played against a very solid team who make life difficult for us. But we were not clean enough in the first half. We are honest with each other, critical. We have to keep working. We will analyse what went wrong, where we have to improve, and then we keep going."

Albion difficult to oust

Nottingham Forest are winless in their last three Premier League meetings with Brighton (W0-D1-L2), with the Tricky Trees tabling only three triumphs in the last 11 head-to-head encounters over the past 10 years (W3-D3-L5). Albion were 3-2 winners at the City Ground last season but the visitors have never won consecutive away league games against Forest.

Nottingham Forest 2.56 look to bounce back from last Saturday's heavy loss. The Reds have now shipped eight goals in their last two hours of football having recorded nine clean sheets in their opening 21 EPL tussles. The Tricky Trees have tended to toil against the league's elite, posting W2-D4-L5 against top-half teams, keeping a solitary clean sheet.

Only Liverpool and Arsenal have lost fewer league games than Brighton 2.96 this season with the Seagulls returning W8-D10-L5 thus far. Fabian Hurzeler's outfit are W5-D4-L3 on their travels, striking twice or more in seven of those 12 showdowns - the visitors are W2-D2-L3 on the road at top-half EPL teams and have scored in all games against the top-10.

Both sides can oblige

With only five of Nottingham Forest's Premier League victories arriving by a margin of two goals or more, and the Tricky Trees arriving after a rocky result, I'm happy to oppose a big home win at the City Ground on Saturday.

Brighton have proven a tough nut to crack with only five EPL defeats this season as only two on their travels have ended in heavy losses.

With that in-mind, I'm happy to back Brighton +2 Handicap alongside Both Teams To Score at 5/6. The Reds have managed to get on the scoresheet in 19 of their 23 tussles this term, including 10 of 11 on home soil - Albion have also notched in all 12 of their away league matches this season as nine of their 10 against top-half teams paid-out for BTTS backers.

Taking this selection gives us a range of correct scores onside, such as 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-3, 2-4 etc. We'll pick up profit as long as both sides score and Brighton avoid defeat by a two-goal margin or more - the wager has won in nine of the Seagull's 12 contests with the current top-12.

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Back Both Teams To Score and Brighton +2 Handicap @ 5/6