Nottingham Forest vs. AFC Bournemouth 9/3/22 EPL Soccer Picks, Predictions, Odds

Nottingham Forest and AFC Bournemouth face off on Saturday in an English Premier League showdown at City Ground. Bournemouth beat Nottingham 1-0 when these two teams faced off on May 3rd. 

Nottingham Forest comes into this game sitting in 15th place in the standings having picked up 4 points. Nottingham Forest hasn’t had the worst start to the season, but they really didn’t look great in the last game. Against Manchester City, the defense really struggled, giving up six goals and that led to the blowout defeat. Two games ago against Tottenham they didn’t look great, and they were defeated 2-0. Nottingham Forest is expected to again be without Orel Mangala and Moussa Niakhate. Jesse Lingard is expected to be back with the team for this game and that is a big boost for them. 

On the other side of this matchup is AFC Bournemouth, who sits in 16th place in the standings having picked up four points. In the last game against the Wolves the offense couldn’t get anything going, but the defense was lights out not giving up any goals and that led to the 0-0 draw. Bournemouth only had 34 percent of the possession and were outshot 4-2, but still picked up the point. Bournemouth has only scored two goals this season, and the defense has given up 16 goals. David Brooks looks like he could be back withe Bournemouth soon, but it’s unclear if it will be for this game. Bournemouth could run out the same squad that played the midweek game against the Wolves. 

Bournemouth really isn’t a threat with their offense, and I expect that is going to be the case again here. They are again going to go in a defensive shape, and goals are going to be hard to come by for both teams. I expect a 0-0 game, but there might be one goal scored. Back the under 1.5 to cash.