English Premier
2025-08-24 - Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 24th August 2025 - Kick Off 2pm
This game is live on TV
Crystal Palace
The final week of the open transfer window feels very important for Oliver Glasner and his Crystal Palace team and the hope is that they can bring in some quality to replace Eberechi Eze, who is expected to have signed for Arsenal on Friday. Oliver Glasner had already suggested his squad needed reinforcements and so there is some pressure on the board to make sure Crystal Palace can cope on all fronts until January at the least.
A 1-0 win over Fredrikstad has given Crystal Palace the edge in the Conference League Play Off Round, but there is work to do next weekend. Some of the fans, and those in the boardroom, partly blame Nottingham Forest for being demoted from the Europa League and so a fierce atmosphere is expected at Selhurst Park. The Eagles finished with a 6-7-6 record at home in the Premier League last season.
Crystal Palace have extended their unbeaten run to 11 games in all competitions, while the win over Fredrikstad is the first of the season in normal time. The side earned a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge last Sunday, but Crystal Palace are back home for the first time in the top flight. They ended last season unbeaten in 6 Premier League games at Selhurst Park and Crystal Palace won 4 of those fixtures.
Matheus Oliviera could be available to travel to Norway for the Conference League Play Off Round Second Leg next week, but he is set to miss out on Sunday. The likes of Cheick Doucoure and Chadi Riad are expected to be longer-term absentees.
Nottingham Forest
Transfer activity has ramped up at the City Ground after Nuno Espirito Santo made it clear in his final press conference before the season began that Nottingham Forest needed greater depth to challenge domestically and in Europe. Over £90,000,000 has been spent in the last week to bring in Omari Hutchinson, James McAtee and Arnaud Kalimuendo and more incomings could arrive before the transfer window closes.
The ending of last season was a little disappointing, even if Nottingham Forest overachieved to finish 7th in the standings, but they opened this campaign with a convincing 3-1 win over Brentford. The Tricky Trees had a 10-3-6 record away from home in the Premier League and only the top two secured more points on their travels over the course of the season.
Nottingham Forest won 1 of their last 6 games in all competitions and did not have the best of pre-season results so the victory over Brentford does feel very important. Some of the poorer results had been in matches hosted at the City Ground and Nottingham Forest will head to South London having lost 1 of their last 6 away games in all competition, while winning half of those matches.
Nicolas Dominguez is expected to miss out, but the new signings could all be involved in the squad.
Head to Head
Nottingham Forest took four points from Crystal Palace last season with the majority earned from a home victory.
The game at Selhurst Park ended 1-1 and that means the last 4 matches hosted by Crystal Palace against Nottingham Forest have ended in stalemate.
Prediction
The Premier League fixture list has thrown up a couple of games that will have plenty of passion attached to them after events over the summer.
This one on Sunday afternoon features two clubs who are hoping to be playing in UEFA Group Stage Football, but Crystal Palace are furious that they have been demoted from the Europa League and forced to work their way through the Play Off Round of the Conference League.
It was supposed to be Nottingham Forest who were negotiating that tie in August, but they were the beneficiary of UEFA's decision to force Crystal Palace to have to leave the Europa League and that has not been lost on the South London club.
Many feel Nottingham Forest played a big part in the decision and so the fans and players are likely going to be extremely motivated to get one over the visitors.
Crystal Palace did have to play on Thursday against Fredrikstad in the Conference League and earned a narrow win, while they are expected to be without Eberechi Eze barring a late snap in his move to Arsenal.
Oliver Glasner will know his team need to bring in some reinforcements to strengthen the options available, but those will not be available this weekend. They remain a tough test at Selhurst Park, but the creativity and quality of Eze has to be missed and that should give Nottingham Forest every chance of earning a positive result.
Nuno Espirito Santo's team are tailer-made to perform away from home and they have shown that over the last twelve months.
Only Arsenal and Liverpool secured more away points than Nottingham Forest, while the club have been busy in the transfer market over the last week. That comes behind a very good win over Brentford at the City Ground and so a confident Nottingham Forest look capable of avoiding a defeat at Crystal Palace for a ninth visit in succession.
The last 4 in South London between these clubs have ended in draws and that is a real runner again.
However, it may make more sense to back Nottingham Forest with a start having won 10 of 19 away Premier League games last season and with a full week to prepare. Nuno Espirito Santo will be reminding his players to just focus early as they will likely have to weather the Crystal Palace storm, both on the pitch and in the stands, but Nottingham Forest can pose a big threat on the counter throughout the ninety minutes and it may be enough to earn a positive result on this ground again.
Over the last few hours, rumours about Nottingham Forest parting ways with the manager have begun to swirl and that does place another 'x factor' around this fixture. The Tricky Trees may still be good enough to avoid a defeat, although those rumours can be a big distraction.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Crystal Palace 1-1 Nottingham Forest
