Nottingham Forest v Porto: Prediction, team news, line-ups and odds | OneFootball

Tottenham proved last year that a Premier League team can flirt near the relegation zone and still win the Europa League and Nottingham Forest find themselves in a similar position.

In truth, Forest’s league position this season is more precarious than Tottenham’s was last term so boss Vitor Pereira – their fourth manager of the campaign – has a difficult balancing act.

But he’s making a decent job of it. Forest banked a 1-1 draw in the first leg of this quarter-final in Portugal last week and another 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday stretched their unbeaten run to five in all competitions (two wins and three draws).

Nottingham Forest v Porto kick-off time

Nottingham Forest v Porto kicks off at 8pm BST on Thursday, April 16 at the City Ground.

Nottingham Forest v Porto how to watch

The game will be shown live in the UK via TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max. Coverage begins at 7pm.

TalkSPORT 2 will provide live radio coverage.

Nottingham Forest team news

Elliot Anderson was suspended for the first leg in Portugal but the key midfielder is available again here.

Forest are still without Jair Cunha, Willy Bolly, Nicolo Savona and John Victor.

Porto team news

Strikers Samu Aghehowa and Luuk de Jong remain on the injured list for Porto. The former has 19 goals for Porto this season so will be missed.

Boss Francesco Farioli will also be without Martim Fernandes and Nehuen Perez.

Nottingham Forest v Porto odds

Forest were the slight outsiders to go through ahead of the first leg but after forcing a draw the odds have flipped. The Tricky Trees are 8/13 to qualify while Porto trade at 5/4.

For Thursday evening’s meeting at the City Ground, Forest are 5/4 favourites to win on the night and advance. Porto are 9/4 while the Draw, which would mean extra-time, is 21/10.

In the outright betting, Forest are 6/1 third favourites while Porto are on offer at 7/1.

Nottingham Forest v Porto prediction

This is the third encounter between the pair this season after they also met in the league phase.

That game ended in a 2-0 home win for Forest and a repeat would set up a likely last-four all-English encounter with Aston Villa.

As well as negative head-to-head form against Forest, Porto have a shocking record on English soil with 20 defeats and just a single win in 24 matches.

But the Portuguese have improved on the road during this competition and we could be in for a long and tense night.

Back another 1-1 draw at 11/2 and then, if you’re a Forest fan, brace yourselves for penalties.

Forest would surely be favourites in such circumstances. Porto have lost their last eight shootouts in all competitions while Forest, who beat Midtjylland on penalties in the last 16, have won six of their last eight.