Brighton v Nottingham Forest predictions: Seagulls can seal low-scoring success

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Brighton v Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Tuesday.

Where to watch

Amazon Prime Video, 7.30pm Tuesday

Best bet

Brighton and under 3.5 goals
1pt 23-20 Coral, Ladbrokes

Team news

Brighton
Kaoru Mitoma has joined Jan Paul van Hecke, Levi Colwill and Jakub Moder in the treatment room. Adam Lallana will start.

Nottingham Forest
Serge Aurier, Renan Lodi, Omar Richards, Jack Colback and Moussa Niakhate are sidelined but Lewis O'Brien (illness) may return to contention.

Match preview

Nottingham Forest waited 23 years to regain a place in the Premier League but they have looked out of their depth among the elite and are likely to suffer an eighth defeat of the season at Brighton on Tuesday.

There has been no lack of ambition from Forest, who were the most active top-flight club in the transfer window, bringing in 20 permanent signings and three loans, but their frenetic recruitment drive doesn't seem to be bearing fruit.

Some of the new arrivals could flourish later in the season but Forest's owner Evangelos Marinakis cast his own verdict on the transfer dealings last week when dismissing the club's head of recruitment George Syrianos and head of scouting Andy Scott.

Head coach Steve Cooper has credit in the bank after leading Forest to promotion last season and was handed a new contract just four days after a dismal 4-0 defeat away to Leicester.

Cooper openly admits that he is still working out his best 11 and his short-term strategy is focused on making his team tougher to play against.

There has been a noticeable improvement at the back with Forest digging out a 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa before going down to a 1-0 loss at Wolves, but they have been short of quality in attack and haven't scored an away goal since a 1-1 draw at Everton in August.

Forest were at least competitive in their narrow loss at Molineux where they won the shot count 10-9, but they face a tougher task against the seventh-place Seagulls, who will be eager to atone for back-to-back defeats.

Brighton played plenty of good football in their losses at home to Tottenham and away to Brentford yet they paid the price for wastefulness in front of goal.

However, head coach Roberto De Zerbi will have seen plenty of encouraging signs and is unlikely to veer too far away from the high intensity, possession-based style which was achieving excellent results in the early part of the season.

Brighton have the tools to remain a solid top-half team, but their lack of a top-class striker will make it difficult to push towards the top six.

They have scored more than two goals on just two occasions this season and may have to rely primarily on their defence to overcome Forest and chalk up a fifth league win of the campaign.