Crystal Palace vs. Nottingham Forest: Premier League Match Preview

Why this matters: Crystal Palace needs to overcome their historical struggles against Nottingham Forest to secure valuable points. Nottingham Forest's away form could be a decisive advantage.

Crystal Palace's manager, Oliver Glasner, faces the challenge of maintaining team confidence after losing key player Eberechi Eze to Arsenal. Palace's win percentage drops from 40% to 19% without Eze, highlighting his importance.

Nottingham Forest, led by manager Nuno Espírito Santo, aims to capitalize on their strong defensive pairing of Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo. Forest's ability to perform well in both boxes makes them a difficult opponent.

Match facts reveal that Crystal Palace has never won in 10 previous Premier League meetings with Nottingham Forest (D6 L4). Nottingham Forest are unbeaten in their last eight away league games against Crystal Palace (W3 D5), since a 1-0 loss in the second tier in December 2003. Each of their last four visits to Selhurst Park has finished level.

Crystal Palace have lost their first home Premier League match in 12 of their 16 seasons in the competition (W1 D3), failing to score in eight of their last nine at Selhurst Park; their one goal was scored in a 1-0 win over Southampton in 2020-21.

Only Liverpool (38) and Arsenal (35) picked up more away Premier League points last season than Nottingham Forest (33), who won 10 of their 19 matches on the road (D3 L6). It was nine more points than Forest won away from home in 2022-23 and 2023-24 combined (24 points in 38 games).

Five of Crystal Palace’s last seven Premier League matches have ended in draws (W2) – since the start of this run on 19 April, no other side have drawn more than two games.

Nottingham Forest started their 2025-26 Premier League campaign with a 3-1 win over Brentford – they last started a top-flight season with two wins in 1987-88 under Brian Clough, with Forest starting with one win in their first two top-flight games in each of their last nine seasons at this level.

Nottingham Forest have won 43% of their Premier League matches under Nuno Espirito Santo (26 out of 60), with only Stuart Pearce enjoying a higher win rate as Forest boss in the competition (44%, won 4 out of 9 games).

On MD1, Eberechi Eze had six out of Crystal Palace’s 11 shots against Chelsea (55%) and since the start of last season he’s had 20.5% of Palace’s shots in Premier League games (108/527).

Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson made four line-breaking passes leading to shots against Brentford, the most of any player on MD1 of this season’s Premier League. He also made the most line-breaking passes in the final third of any midfielder (10).

Chris Wood has scored 33 Premier League goals in 53 appearances under Nuno Espirito Santo, with only three players – Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland – scoring more since Santo’s first game in December 2023. Wood has scored with 31% of his attempts in that time (33/107), the best conversion rate of any player with 10+ shots in that timeframe.

Crystal Palace has not won in their last 10 Premier League meetings with Nottingham Forest.

Nottingham Forest's away form has been strong, with more points gained away than at home last season.

For Crystal Palace, the focus will be on how they perform without Eberechi Eze. For Nottingham Forest, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo and Chris Wood are key players.

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