Nottingham Forest v Millwall: preview, odds, prediction & free tip

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Nottingham Forest v Millwall in the Sky Bet Championship.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Football, 7.45pm Friday

Best bet

Nottingham Forest
1pt 11-8 Betfred

Team news

Nottingham Forest
Samba Sow (knee) and Tiago Silva (appendicitis) are sidelined.

Millwall
Ben Thompson is unlikely to feature and Ryan Leonard and Shaun Williams are doubtful because of illness.

Nottingham Forest v Millwall match preview

Nottingham Forest and Millwall are stalemate specialists in the Sky Bet Championship, a section where draws are all the rage, yet Sabri Lamouchi’s promotion-chasers look a value bet to get three points rather than just one at the City Ground on Friday evening.

Forest have drawn three of their last four, including Monday night’s awful effort at struggling Middlesbrough where they managed to sneak a 2-2 draw thanks to a late leveller courtesy of the ultra-reliable Lewis Grabban.

That made it 12 draws in total for the Tricky Trees this season – a hugely frustrating statistic for a side who play some of the nicest football in the division but aren’t getting their rewards.

Millwall, meanwhile, have drawn 15 times in 36 league matches – the joint-most in the Championship.

But Forest have generally been excellent after overcoming their pre-Christmas hiccup – they’ve lost just twice since then – and will be determined to hit back after their Riverside no-show.

Forest’s threats come from all over the pitch and they do their most damage at pace when space opens up. That helps to explain why they have picked up more points on their travels than at home.

But they still have the tools to unlock opponents wherever they play and in Millwall they come up against a team who are struggling for goals and short of confidence away from The Den.

Gary Rowett’s battlers have the joint-fewest away wins in the second tier – just four all season – and they have scored only three goals in their last seven outings. Those seven games have yielded just eight goals and only Preston have racked up fewer goals on their travels than Millwall.

These two teams prop up the goals-per-game table with Forest games producing an average of 2.31 goals and Millwall’s just 2.25. That helps explain why the draw is as short as 2-1.

Both defences are well organised but Forest have enough about them to be able to break down their guests.

Key stat

Millwall have scored three goals in their last seven matches.

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