Nottingham Forest

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

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The statistics might say playing at home is an advantage - but what happens when it is not?

So far this season, 53% of Premier League matches have been won by the home team - the highest ever rate in a single campaign.

On the flip side, just 26% have been won by the away team - the lowest rate since 2010-11.

However, this has not been the case for all teams.

For some, being on the road has been more favourable. Tottenham are perhaps the most contrasting example having the joint-most points away from home with 13, but the second-worst in front of their own fans with just five points.

In the second part of her chat with BBC Sport, performance psychologist Marie Cartwright explained: "With crowds when playing away from home, there is a reduced scrutiny as a whole for away teams in that those crowds expect the home team to be the ones in charge. The players feel less judged. The pressure is on the other side.

"Another reason could come down to something in psychology I like to call simplification of the task. The team has a better collective identity when they are away.

"The human brain still goes back to the cavemen days. We have to, as a collective, fight for something. We have to protect our name. It goes back to that hunter-gatherer-against-danger mentality.

"When players are in front of a home crowd, there can be a bit of playing up to the individuality.

"I really do believe that collective identity has a strong enough influence because it amplifies the purpose and the belonging - let's belong together, let's be stronger together."

The focus might be on the players' performances being impacted by being home or away, but what about the managers?

Wolves, West Ham and Nottingham Forest make up three of the bottom four for their home records so far this term, and all have changed their manager in recent weeks.

"100% managers and coaches can be affected, and sometimes even more so because there is so much riding on that one person," Cartwright said.

"The decision-making is the main thing. The crowd is chanting - 'take this player off, do this' - and it can lead to rushed decisions, particularly when the noise becomes relentless.

"Then there is the emotional regulation and touchline behaviour. A manager is pacing up and down, mirroring the stress state, and players see that. It can lead to mimicking and players feeling that stress too."

The impact on teams psychologically playing home or away is apparent, so how can they make the most from these different conditions?

"Our brains are wired to think negatively - it's a protection mechanism," Cartwright said.

"So when it comes to performing home and away, those players and managers who deal with it best are those who know how to use the noise and scrutiny and move on quickly from it - an ability to have a reset routine and regulate their emotions in these pressurised situations."

Read more from Marie in part one of her chat around the impact of playing at home here

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

"Home advantage gives you an advantage."

It is a quote - among many - attributed to the famous former England manager Sir Bobby Robson - a simple, yet fair reflection of a historical format of football.

For as long as teams have played in leagues, games taking place home and away has been the norm, with the idea that playing at home will be to the benefit of that team.

But what is the impact of playing at your own ground in front of your own fans?

In the first part of her chat with BBC Sport, performance psychologist Marie Cartwright explained: "Home impact can be viewed in two ways. Sometimes it does have a positive impact, and what happens is there is an elevated motivation.

"What that means is the crowd energy increases adrenaline and that creates a momentum in effort and intensity in the players. It is also a familiar environment for the players, so that means it reduces the cognitive load. They don't have to think as much about anything else other than their play because they know the pitch, they know the routines, they feel settled.

"However, there are a couple of potential negative impacts as well, with the potential intensification in pressure in the home fans, most times, expecting dominance from the home team. That can lead to mistakes from players feeling bigger to them.

"There can then be what we call a threat state. The players might perceive consequences as high, so they feel they might be facing more criticism when they are at home."

While those who watch football know there are more factors than just where the match is being to take into consideration, the statistics do suggest the influence is there.

Since the Premier League started, the home win percentage has outweighed the away win percentage in all bar one season - the Covid-hit 2020-21 campaign in which fans were largely not allowed admission saw a 38% home win rate compared to 40% away win rate.

So how a team handles this additional crowd pressure seems to be a key factor.

"In psychology, there is something called the challenge and threat theory," Cartwright said.

"In reality what that means is a 'challenge state' can push the player into thinking, 'I've got this, I've got the resources to cope with this'. That leads to better decision making and quicker reactions.

"The threat state, on the other hand, players might think the consequences outweigh their ability to cope. In any match context, that can mean they have a narrow sense of focus, the focus is not quite the same, so the play becomes slower because of overthinking."

"It can also be called 'red brain or blue brain' - with red brain being the one with fear-based dialogue and internal negative self-talk, while blue brain is the cool, calm and collected one that can handle its emotions.

"What sits in the middle of these is distraction. How a player responds to distraction and filters out the noise, like the crowd, can impact which of these mindsets they move into and ultimately how the team performs."

Read more from Marie in part two of her chat about why teams some teams play better away from home and how it impacts managers - that will be on this page early next week.

Here's another clutch of selections for your best Premier League XI.

See what you make of them.

Craig: 5-3-2. Navas, Aina, Walker, Milenkovic, Murillo, Pearce, Keane, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Collymore, Van Hooijdonk. Love to see Psycho in a wing-back position with Aina on right. Could Collymore and Van Hooijdonk play together?

Matthew: 4-4-2. Henderson, Pearce, Walker, Milenkovic, Williams, Keane, Anderson, Bohinen, Clough, Collymore, Elanga. Mixture of old and new. Intelligence, skill and pace.

Mark: 4-4-2. Crossley (if only Samba!), Pearce, Walker, Milenkovic, Aina, Keane, Clough, Anderson, Woan, Collymore, Van Hooijdonk - despite his strike, he was brilliant at free-kicks! Solid defence for sure with a mix of creative ability and combative midfield with quite a few goals too. Collymore is the best striker we've had in the Premier League era.

Terry: 4-2-3-1. Crossley, Williams, Walker, Murillo, Pearce, Anderson, Keane, Stone, Gibbs-White, Roy, Collymore. Walker and Psycho with Williams and Murillo. No goals conceded and with Anderson and Keane holding, no-one is getting through. Then MGW, Stone and Roy supplying the greatest striker we've had. Goals galore.

Martin: 4-4-1-1. Beasant, Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Pearce, Bohinen, Stone, Woan, Gibbs-White, Collymore, Roy. The mid 1990s squad were amazing going forward. The defence now is stronger.

Doug: 4-4-2. Sels, Williams, Walker, Milenkovic, Pearce, Keane, Anderson, Stone, Woan, Collymore, Clough. So many quality players to choose from but reliability and class had to be the top priority.

George Mills
BBC Sport senior journalist

In a recent addition of the Football Extra newsletter, Roger asked BBC Sport: Players are frequently injured on international duty - such as Chris Wood for New Zealand last season, which may have ultimately cost Nottingham Forest a Champions League place. Are clubs compensated by the country or does insurance cover compensation?'

Since 2012, Fifa's Club Protection Programme has covered the salary of players injured on international duty - although there are some conditions.

Firstly, the player must be out of action for a period of at least 28 consecutive days and the injury must have been sustained during an "accident", which is defined in very boring and legally-specific detail in Fifa's guidelines, though it covers most of the examples you could think of.

The scheme pays the salary of an injured player up to the maximum amount of €7.5m (£6.6m) until they are declared fit to return for their clubs.

Transfermarkt lists Chris Wood as missing 18 days - three games - with the hip injury you mention from last March, suffered on international duty with New Zealand. As he returned inside 28 days, Forest would not have been eligible to claim compensation.

There are a couple of clubs who will currently be beneficiaries of this scheme though, including Newcastle United, whose £55m summer signing Yoane Wissa is yet to make an appearance since suffering a knee injury while playing for DR Congo.

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Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson is a "fabulous asset" for club and country and should be "on the plane" for England at the 2026 World Cup, says BBC Radio Nottingham's Colin Fray.

"It is great for Forest fans to have a player like that to watch week in week out at the moment," Fray said. "He just keeps delivering all of these excellent performances.

"We always talk about players wanting to maintain consistent 7 out of 10 performances but he isn't just consistently a 7 out of 10, he is performing at way higher levels than that.

"He is a fabulous asset for Sean Dyche and Thomas Tuchel to have, and he has proven himself at international level over the first four games of his England career.

"It was interesting to hear Tuchel talk about there being 'no guarantees' that Anderson will be included in his World Cup squad in his press conference.

"You wouldn't expect him to tout Anderson as a shoo-in just yet, but as long as he doesn't pick up any injury issues and he continues to perform at this level - touch wood - then I don't think there's much doubt around him being on the plane."

Anderson impressed again in Thursday's 2-0 win over Serbia at Wembley and has only missed 21 minutes of England action since making his debut in September.

"It's going to be really interesting to see how he develops from here because, certainly at club level and international level, he is clearly a big asset to his coaches," Fray added.

"In Dyche and Tuchel, he also has coaches that can help him improve even further."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

The latest episode of Shut Up And Show More Football has landed.

BBC Radio Nottingham's David Jackson and Colin Fray are on hand to discuss Sean Dyche's first win as Nottingham Forest boss, as the Reds hit three goals past Leeds United at the City Ground.

The pair also talk about Morgan Gibbs-White's omission from Thomas Tuchel's squad for England's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania.

Plus the compliments keep rolling in for Elliot Anderson, so the midfielder is on the running order again.

Listen to the full episode here

Explore all Nottingham Forest content on BBC Sounds

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We wanted your suggestions for Nottingham Forest's all-time best Premier League XI.

And you delivered!

Here's a first bunch:

Tim: 4-4-2. Sels, Cash, Pearce, Murillo, Cooper, Stone, Keane, Anderson, Woan, Collymore and Roy. Close calls for many positions.

Dave: 4-3-3. Crossley, Pearce, Walker, Murillo, Milenkovic, Clough, Stone, Keane, Collymore, Elanga, Carr. A mix of legends and recent. Psycho as captain obviously.

Anthony: 4-4-2. Crossley, Little, Cooper, Milenkovic, Pearce, Stone, Bohinen, Anderson, Woan and Collymore. The 1994-95 Forest team that finished third was the best I've seen in the Premier League and so dominates my team. I could have named all 11 players from that season but Mikenkovic and Anderson were great last season.

Steve: 4-4-1-1. Henderson (not Samba sorry), Aina, Murillo, Milenkovic, Pearce, Stone, Keane, Anderson, Woan, Gibbs-White, Collymore. The 1994-96 team had some brilliant players that would grace the current squad. Collymore is the best ever Forest striker and Pearce the best ever player while Stone and Woan could score and create. Imagine Keane and Anderson in midfield! Gibbs-White would link up the play and the defence is solid. What a team!

Stephen. 4-4-2. Crossley, Williams, Pearce, Milenkovic, Cooper, Stone, Anderson, Clough, Woan, Collymore, Wood. If football began in 1992!

Darren: 4-2-3-1. Crossley, Pearce, Cooper, Murillo, Lyttle, Anderson, Keane, Stone, Roy, Woan, Collymore. Solid defence, combative and skillful midfield and the best striker we've had in a long time.

Image source, Getty Images

England boss Thomas Tuchel says Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson is "one of the best midfielders in the Premier League" after his "impressive" performances in recent international camps.

"Anderson is a key player for us at the moment," said Tuchel. "He is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League - that's why he is with us and starting for us.

"He deserves it because he has been nothing but impressive. He has to keep on going now though. He is a very complete and mobile midfielder, and that's what he keeps showing me."

Despite the praise, Tuchel refused to be drawn on whether the 23-year-old has cemented his spot in England's World Cup squad yet.

"He still has a long career ahead of him and a long way to go," Tuchel explained. "There are no guarantees, especially not publicly, for the World Cup.

"It doesn't help me right now to give predictions or guarantees to my players because it is all about competition at the moment.

"He is an elite player with the right attitude and a lot of talent. He is fulfilling his role in the best way possible so we are very happy with him."

It's international break so let's have a bit of fun to pass the time.

Now we know football existed before 1992 but for the purposes of this little exercise, keep it Premier League please.

So tell us, who would be in your dream Nottingham Forest Premier League XI?

The debate starts here.

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Sin bins? Bonus points? Two goals if you score from distance?

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It's a dream, of course. Just a bit of fun. But stick with us.

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Some of BBC Sport's familiar football faces have offered their own potential rule changes.

Watch them above or read more here

Nottingham Forest Everton, Fulham and West Ham are monitoring Arsenal full-back Myles Lewis-Skelly's situation after England boss Thomas Tuchel said the 19-year-old needs more minutes to be considered for his squad. (Caught Offside, external), external

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We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Nottingham Forest and Leeds.

Here are some of your comments:

Forest fans

Kristian Much better after the subs as it was pretty turgid stuff before then. Omari Hutchinson changed the game with his running and pace and Taiwo Awoniyi looked lively. Encouraging, and once Chris Wood, Ola Aina and Callum Hudson Odoi are back we should have enough to pull clear of danger.

James: Finally, but this Forest has come too late. Sean Dyche is the perfect fit but has a lot of work if Forest want to remain in the Premier League.

Andy: Glad to see Dychey give Hutchinson the minutes he deserves. Playing Dan Ndoye on the left and Omari on the right is the right choice for the system he's trying to put in place. Two goals proves it.

Ben: It feels like Forest have their identity back: they were resolute in defence, resilient when behind and persistent in attack. They deserved to win and the performance is consistent with the steady stabilising trajectory they have been on since Dyche took over. Great performances all over the pitch but what an impact from Hutchinson! More of that please!

Luke: The performance can be analysed, but it really was all about the three points, which we did deserve. It certainly gives me reason to believe we'll finish above Leeds and puts a much better perspective on the three results this week.

Leeds fans

Steve: When will Daniel Farke learn? You cannot play against any Premier League Teams with only 10 men, because as long as he plays Brenden Aaronson that's what he's doing. He is not Championship standard never mind Premier League. Farke is indecisive and out of his depth. Replace him now before it's too late.

Pete: Farke procrastinated today when he should have been more proactive with his changes just after the halfway mark. He waited for Dyche to play his cards and then we end up going behind before he's forced to change things. Too late as we were now chasing the game. Then he replaced our best player at left-back with an average winger who's not best at defending and gave away a penalty. Game over. Poor tactically from Farke. I like him but I think he's brought pressure on himself and I wouldn't be surprised if the owners use the international break to replace him.

Robbie: Ethan Ampadu has to be moved back next to Joe Rodon, as they were last season. We have enough quality in midfield to cover his place. Dan James and Willy Gnonto have to start when fit. And a proven striker!

Mark: Four defeats in five games and with Aston Villa, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in the next four, it's a worrying time, especially with West Ham and Nottingham Forest, immediately below us, seemingly turning a corner. Still not clinical enough up front and beginning to leak at the back. It's a concern. We could be bottom two before Christmas.

Ian: Lacked a quality flair player in midfield, more attacking options and played a left-winger at left-back! The board should have done better business over the summer especially up front.

Pundits Wayne Rooney and Danny Murphy join host Gabby Logan to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Aston Villa 4-0 Bournemouth

• Brentford 3-1 Newcastle

• Crystal Palace 0-0 Brighton

• Nottingham Forest 3-1 Leeds

• Man City 3-0 Liverpool

Emlyn Begley
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

The longer the winless run in the league went on for Sean Dyche, who replaced 39-day manager Ange Postecoglou, the worse things could have got.

They were only behind for two minutes and 17 seconds in between Lukas Nmecha's opener and Ibrahim Sangare's strike.

It is telling that Gibbs-White, who failed to get a move to Tottenham in the summer, has now scored three times under Dyche - after netting none under the Australian.

He left to a standing ovation, having been criticised earlier in the season by the club's fans.

This was not a vintage Forest performance, certainly compared with last season, but they were better than they have been and created the more promising chances.

They looked livelier too after a triple substitution by Dyche, including the introduction of Hutchison, who set up the second goal and won the penalty.

Had Gibbs-White not been replaced moments earlier he would have had the opportunity to score his second - but instead Anderson slammed home his first Premier League penalty goal.

Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche, speaking to BBC Match Of The Day after their 3-1 victory over Leeds: "Very pleased for everyone. The players have spoken openly about going through a lot. They've accepted how we're doing things and have accepted the squad game. They know the fixture list. We should have won in the week but we put that right today.

"We can't guarantee a quick equaliser but we did it against Manchester United and did it again today. It was good today with the fans playing their part as they so often do here.

On Omari Hutchinson: "I had already spoken to him but credit to him. I can only guide him in the right direction. The price tag has nothing to do with him. He needs to just enjoy his football. He's done terrific when he came on.

On Morgan Gibbs-White: "Scored again. That's what you want from the players. He's going about his business. The stories go away and he can relax and carry on. It's professional. Morgan has gone through a bit of noise."

Listen to Omari Hutchinson speak on BBC Sounds

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Forest's performance

What did you make of Leeds' display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

Nottingham Forest XI: Sels, Savona, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Sangare, Anderson, Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, Igor Jesus.

Subs: John Victor, Morato, Awoniyi, Kalimuendo, Hutchinson, Yates, Jair Cunha, McAtee, Abbott.

Leeds XI: Lucas Perri, Bogle, Rodon, Bijol, Gudmundsson, Ampadu, Aaronson, Longstaff, Stach, Okafor, Nmecha.

Subs: Darlow, Struijk, James, Calvert-Lewin, Piroe, Harrison, Tanaka, Justin, Gruev.

There are five games in the Premier League on Sunday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Aston Villa v Bournemouth - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2

• Brentford v Newcastle - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Crystal Palace v Brighton - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 3

• Nottingham Forest v Leeds - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Manchester City v Liverpool (16:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 14:00 GMT unless stated

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This is a big game for both teams because they could both really do with a positive result going into the international break.

Nottingham Forest nearly got over the line against Manchester United last week and they had a bit of spirit about the way they played, but Sean Dyche is still waiting for his first Premier League win with them and he will want to get that monkey off his back.

Leeds have done pretty well at Elland Road so far, but the only time they have picked up any points or even scored a goal away from home was when they beat bottom side Wolves in September.

Their fragility on the road means this is a great opportunity for Forest, even though they played away in Europe on Thursday.

Sutton's prediction: 2-0

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist

Nottingham Forest and Leeds United meet in the Premier League for just the third time this century. BBC Sport examines some of the key themes before Sunday's match.

Forest have not won a league match since beating Brentford on the opening weekend but can take heart from their excellent record against Leeds at the City Ground.

They have not lost a top-flight home game against the Yorkshire side since November 1971, when current manager Sean Dyche was just five months old.

Dyche earned his first Premier League point since taking charge in last weekend's 2-2 draw with Manchester United and said the performance was a "marked improvement", particularly in the second half.

But Forest were caught out twice from corners (the first awarded controversially), taking their total number of goals conceded from set-pieces to nine – a joint-league high prior to the latest round of fixtures.

Dyche will have to get his new side better organised defensively if they are to move away from the relegation zone.

Forest have not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since beating United on 1 April, and their run of 18 consecutive games without a shut-out is the longest by a current top-flight club.

Leeds' struggles on the road

A Leeds win would send them eight points clear of their opponents but Daniel Farke's side have struggled away from home this season and were well beaten at Brighton last weekend.

Farke conceded the Seagulls deserved their 3-0 victory, acknowledging "it was not our best game offensively" whilst adding "it happens sometimes that the attack doesn't have the best of days".

The problem for Farke is those bad days have been regular occurrences away from Elland Road.

The Whites have conceded the opening goal in all five of their top-flight matches on the road this season, failing to score in all but one of those fixtures.

The three away goals they have netted all came in a 15-minute flurry immediately before half-time in September's 3-1 win at Wolves, when they scored with three consecutive shots.

Aside from that purple patch at Molineux, their other 40 attempts on the road have all been unsuccessful.

Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Leeds United at the City Ground (kick-off 14:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Dyche says it's "improbable" Chris Wood and Callum Hudson-Odoi will be back for the weekend, but says there's a "stronger chance" they'll be fit in the coming weeks.

• He admits the international break has come at a good time because of the injuries they have. Dyche added: "It gives us that window without games. It doesn't mean they are going to miraculously get fit but it just means there's no games to miss. If there is such a thing as speed in these situations then we'll try to do that, of course. But the body can only heal at a certain rate."

• Dyche says having "that killer edge" in front of goal is "a constant work in progress" and believes having more bodies back to fitness will help. He added: "We haven't got magic dust. You can't suddenly make players who are not used to having that killer edge score 20 a season. It's not that easy or else we'd all be doing it."

• The Forest boss says he has seen "positive signs" in recent performances that they can create better chances.

• He says dealing with being in the bottom three from a mental perspective is "part of being a professional footballer" and that "it's a process" to establish yourself as a top Premier League club. Dyche said: "When I was on the outside looking at it and fans were telling me, 'we're going to do this and we're going to do that', I said 'I don't think it's that easy'. Once I saw them get into Europe, I said, 'trust me, it's not going to be that easy'."

• On progress, Dyche says: "There's a lot of work that needs to be done. That's what we're doing and that's what we intend to do."

• Looking ahead to the weekend, Dyche says he has to be "aware" of Leeds but isn't "worried" about them.

How to follow the Premier League on the BBC this weekend

Listen to commentary of Nottingham Forest v Leeds United on BBC Radio 5 Live

Colin Fray
BBC Radio Nottingham reporter

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Overall, the feeling will be one of frustration from Nottingham Forest that they were unable to break through against fairly weak opposition - notwithstanding, of course, the fact Forest have plenty of injury and selection issues just at the moment.

It is hoped - certainly in the case of those unavailable for the Europa League but available for the Premier League - that will be alleviated somewhat for the game against Leeds. The Reds were without 12 players for Thursday's game, but I think they will look back on it with a little bit of disappointment.

In terms of performance, you can look at it and say: "Well, they hit the woodwork, they had one cleared off the line, they missed a penalty." So you could argue they did enough to win the game.

But perhaps that lack of cutting edge in the final third is what really let them down. In the end, they will leave Graz frustrated at only getting one point.

However, it is one more point in the right direction and a point away from home in Europe amid a frenetic atmosphere. It was played in a little bit of a cauldron.

I think Forest will kick themselves, though. Perhaps that is the way to reflect on it - a story of missed opportunities.

Listen to full commentary on every Nottingham Forest game, and In The Game every weeknight from 18:00, on BBC Radio Nottingham.

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