Nottingham Forest vs Wolverhampton: predictions and betting tips on the EFL Cup match on January 11, 2023
On January 11, City Ground will host the 1/4 final match of the EFL Cup, in which Nottingham Forest will compete with Wolverhampton. The battle will start at 20:45 CET.
Nottingham Forest
The club is playing its first season in the Premier League, that is the first time in almost a quarter of a century. The team, being full of new players, had an expectedly weak beginning of the season and, as a result, bogged down in the relegation zone. The fans hoped that a long pause would help to find the solution – Steven Cooper and his staff got the opportunity to work on coherence. To tell the truth, he has really succeeded. “The Foresters” were defeated by Manchester United, but at the same time, they deservedly pulled out a draw in the match with Chelsea, and then beat, giving no chances, a direct competitor, Southampton, on the opponent’s arena. Then, however, there was a devastating 1-4 defeat made by modest Blackpool in the FA Cup. It goes about saying that it was a way to get rid of the tournament – and what is the attitude to the current one?
Wolverhampton
The club has already managed to consolidate in the top division of England and has created a reputation of “a tough nut to crack”. However, the best results for “the Wolves” with “a Portuguese taste” were right after the promotion from the Championship. This season, they are fighting for survival and this task has been given to Julen Lopetegui, who appeared in Foggy Albion only in November. There have been recent successes in the winter – “the Wolves” won in the struggle with Everton and took a draw in the match against Aston Villa (moreover, it was the guests who made a comeback in the very end in Birmingham). By the way, the first success of the Spanish specialist was in the EFL Cup in the match with Leeds. Then his team knocked out Gillingham, that was obviously weaker. Moreover, Liverpool should have been knocked out too, but because of the referee’s scandalous decision that game ended in a 2-2 draw.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
In August 2021, Wolverhampton thrashed Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup with a 4-0 score. Also, there was a battle in the Premier League, where Ruben Neves scored the only goal from a penalty kick in October.
Predictions
Bookmakers consider the chances of both teams to be almost equal. They seem to be in good shape and motivated by the possibility to qualify for the semi-finals. It is worth betting on “both teams to score: yes” (odd: 1.89).