Vitor Pereira’s era as Nottingham Forest head coach begins on Thursday night when the Tricky Trees travel to Turkey to face Fenerbahce in the first leg of their Europa League knockout round playoff tie.
The Sukru Saracoglu Stadium will stage the first ever meeting between these two clubs who are looking to strengthen their hopes of securing their spot in the last 16 before travelling to the City Ground for next week’s second leg.
Match preview
In a tempestuous season of struggle for Nottingham Forest, Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche have all been sacked by controversial owner Evangelos Marinakis, the latter of whom lost his job last week after only four months at the City Ground.
A 3-1 defeat at Leeds and a frustrating goalless home draw with Wolves – in which they had 35 shots on goal – promoting the Tricky Trees to call time on Dyche’s brief tenure. Marinakis has since acted swiftly to appoint Portuguese boss Pereira on an 18-month contract, four months after his dismissal at Molineux.
Pereira believes in Forest’s potential and ‘trusts’ Marinakis, whom he worked under at Olympiacos over a decade ago. The 57-year-old has admitted that he ‘cannot change a lot’, but he is confident that he can steer Forest – sitting 17th in the table and three points above the drop zone – away from danger in their remaining 12 league matches.
Before preparing his new Forest side for a tough PL home clash with Liverpool on Sunday, Pereira’s baptism of fire will come in the Europa League away against his former club Fenerbahce, where he spent two separate spells in charge – most recently a five-month stint at the backend of 2021.
Forest, who are preparing for their first ever trip to Turkey, had to settle for a 13th-placed finish in the 36-team League Phase table, missing out on automatic last-16 qualification by two points despite winning 4-0 at home to Ferencvaros on matchday eight last month.
Four wins, two draws and two defeats were posted by Forest in the League Phase, with five points collected on the road (W1 D2 L1). Success this time around in Istanbul could prove challenging for the Tricky Trees, but Pereira has won his opening match in each of his last seven managerial roles, which bodes well ahead of Thursday’s contest.
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© Imago / Seskim Photo TR
Fenerbahce stumbled their way into the Europa League knockout round playoffs after they won only one of their final five League Phase fixtures (D2 L2) to finish 19th in the table. They lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa in their penultimate match before drawing 1-1 with FCSB on matchday eight.
The Yellow Canaries have since responded well, winning each of their last four domestic matches and scoring 11 goals in the process, including back-to-back Turkish Super Lig victories over Genclerbirligi (3-1) and Trabzonspor (3-2).
Victory over the latter last weekend helped Domenico Tedesco’s side preserve their unbeaten record through 22 league games and stay within touching distance of leaders Galatasaray – just three points separate the top-two teams in the division, with Fenerbahce eyeing their 20th league title and first since 2014.
In the Europa League, Fenerbahce picked up seven of their 12 League Phase points on home soil and their aforementioned defeat to Aston Villa ended a five-game unbeaten run in Europe at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium – they have never lost consecutive home games in European competition before.
The Yellow Canaries have faced English opposition 21 times in their history and they have only celebrated victory four times (D2 L12), most recently securing a 2-1 home win over Manchester United in the 2016-17 Europa League group stage.
Fenerbahce Europa League form:
Fenerbahce form (all competitions):
Nottingham Forest Europa League form:
Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):
Team News
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© Imago / PPAUK
Fenerbahce have added January signings N’Golo Kante, Matteo Guendouzi and Sidiki Cherif into their updated Europa League squad, but fellow new recruits Anthony Musaba and Mert Gunok have not been included, while Archie Brown remains sidelined with a leg injury.
Former Chelsea and Leicester man Kante and ex-Arsenal midfielder Guendouzi are both expected to begin in the middle of the pitch alongside either Fred or Ismail Yuksek, while former Man City goalkeeper Ederson could be protected by centre-backs Milan Skriniar and Jayden Oosterwolde.
Anderson Talisca has scored a team-high 21 goals in 35 games across all competitions this term and the Brazilian is set to continue in the centre of a three-man frontline in between wingers Kerem Akturkoglu and Marco Asensio. Talisca and Akturkoglu have scored 80% of Fenerbahce’s goals in the Europa League this season (four goals each).
As for Nottingham Forest, injured quintet Chris Wood, Nicolo Savona, John Victor, Willy Boly (all knee) and Matz Sels (hip) remain out, while January additions Stefan Ortega and Luca Netz have not been included Forest’s updated Europa League squad.
New recruit Lorenzo Lucca has been added, though, along with Omari Hutchinson and Jair Cunha. Lucca is in contention to start up front, but the 6ft 7in Napoli loanee faces competition from Igor Jesus, who has scored six goals in as many Europa League appearances this season.
Morato is set to continue at centre-back alongside Nikola Milenkovic if Murillo – who has missed the last two games with a calf injury – is unable to feature – while goalkeeper Angus Gunn is expected to start his first game for Forest since joining on a free transfer last summer in the absence of both Sels and Ortega.
Fenerbahce possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Semedo, Skriniar, Oosterwolde, Muldur; Yuksek, Guendouzi, Kante; Asensio, Talisca, Akturkoglu
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Aina, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams; Anderson, Sangare; Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Jesus
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We say: Fenerbahce 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Fenerbahce’s recent form and impressive home record should provide them with plenty of confidence heading into Thursday’s clash against a somewhat unpredictable Forest side under new boss Pereira.
The visitors will be fired up to impress their new manager and produce a performance worthy of claiming at least a share of the spoils, but we are backing the Turkish hosts to claim a narrow victory, giving them the advantage for next week’s second leg.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.