English Premier
2026-03-01 - Brighton vs Nottingham Forest
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 1st March 2026 - Kick Off 2pm
This game is live on TV
Brighton
They may have needed some help from the home team, but Fabian Hurzeler and his Brighton players will have just been pleased to have returned home with three points to ease any growing relegation concerns. The bigger question for the manager may actually be whether he can guide Brighton to a consistent finish that could see European Football return to the Amex Stadium, which is something the board have clearly stated as an ambition.
The recent slump in form has led to criticism of the manager and he has openly spoken about that, but Brighton are 14th in the Premier League table and 6 points behind Brentford in the top seven following the win at the Gtech Community Stadium. Backing that up is key when Brighton return to the Amex Stadium where they have a 5-6-2 record in the Premier League so far this season.
Brighton had not won any of the previous 6 games in all competitions and had suffered 3 defeats in a row before snapping the runs in the 0-2 win last Saturday. They were beaten by rivals Crystal Palace in the last fixture at home and Brighton have won 1 of the last 7 at the Amex Stadium, although 4 have ended in draws.
James Milner is a doubt, but Yasin Ayari could be involved this weekend.
Nottingham Forest
Vitor Pereira will have seen all sides of this Nottingham Forest squad in the three matches he has overseen and now it is about trying to build some consistency. There have been very good performances in the win over Fenerbahce and the unfortunate defeat to Liverpool, but Nottingham Forest struggled in much of the ninety minutes when facing Fenerbahce in the Second Leg of that Europa League Knock Out Play Off Round, which ended in another defeat.
The manager was incredibly upset with the injury time winner given up to Liverpool last weekend- most felt Nottingham Forest may have done enough to win, but they should have earned a draw at the worst and instead have been left in 17th place in the Premier League table 2 points clear of West Ham United. There is every chance that Nottingham Forest kick off on Sunday inside the relegation zone if The Hammers perform better than they did against Liverpool on Saturday, which only increases the pressure.
Nottingham Forest have won 1 of the last 6 games in all competitions and Vitor Pereira will be aware of the size of the task in front of him having overseen back to back defeats. Both of those losses have been at the City Ground and Nottingham Forest have won 6 and lost 5 of the last 12 away games played in all competitions.
The squad is still missing a few players, but the manager did give some of his more important players a rest on Thursday.
Head to Head
Goals at the end of each half helped Brighton to a comfortable 0-2 win at the City Ground earlier this season.
Brighton are unbeaten in 6 at home against Nottingham Forest, but 3 of the last 4 have ended in draws.
Prediction
This is a tough fixture for both teams on Sunday afternoon.
Brighton have managed to relieve the pressure that was building on them by winning at Brentford, but Fabian Hurzeler will be aware that the board have bigger aspirations than mere survival.
He has a lot of options within the squad, but the constant chopping and changing has not really worked and Brighton have just struggled for consistency.
Struggles in the final third have offered opportunities to those visiting the Amex Stadium.
While Brighton have been pretty solid defensively, they have not been able to produce enough in the final third and that has meant a single goal has been enough for visiting teams to leave with a positive result.
Any positive result would be appreciated by Nottingham Forest who will travel on Sunday hoping that West Ham United have not earned any points from the trip to Anfield the day before.
Last weekend Nottingham Forest gave Liverpool plenty of problems, but Vitor Pereira was incredibly frustrated that the team were beaten deep into injury time. The fringe players did little to impress the new manager in the home loss to Fenerbahce on Thursday in the Europa League, although Nottingham Forest progressed to the Last 16.
Key players should be back in the lineup, but Nottingham Forest are another team that have struggled for consistency in the final third and this is something Vitor Pereira will be trying to address.
Finding the balance between attack and defence is key, but this looks like a fixture that will end up being determined by fine margins.
The last 6 Premier League games hosted by Brighton have all finished with less than three goals shared out and that looks the play here.
4 of the last 6 Brighton home fixtures against Nottingham Forest have done the same and the first goal feels like it could be the winning one if things play out as they have been.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Brighton 1-1 Nottingham Forest
