Nottingham Forest

Check out all you need to know ahead of Nottingham Forest's visit to Birmingham City in the match preview, in association with Football Index.

Nottingham Forest could move into the automatic promotion places with victory over Birmingham City at the St Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

Sabri Lamouchi's side were outstanding in their 1-0 win at Brentford on Tuesday night but must now back up that superb victory at Griffin Park with another strong performance in the West Midlands.

Birmingham are unbeaten in their last five matches, winning twice and drawing three times, and have caused problems for the likes of Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion in recent weeks.

Team news

New signings Nuno Da Costa and Gaetan Bong are available for selection for Sabri Lamouchi but otherwise there are no injury problems for the Forest head coach after the midweek win at Brentford.

Birmingham's new signing Scott Hogan is expected to be in the matchday squad following his loan move from Aston Villa earlier this week. Dan Crowley and Kerim Mrabti remain out with hamstring problems while Maikel Kieftenbeld continues his return from a long-term knee injury.

Forest thoughts

Head to head

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From the opposition

Birmingham boss Pep Clotet says he is aware of a 'dangerous' Forest side but is confident that his players can impose their own game on The Reds this weekend.

"I saw them (Forest) live a couple of times since last week, they are obviously one of the most in-form teams in the league, with 14 points in the last six games. It is a team that has been working a lot for the last couple of years to be real contenders for promotion.

"That didn’t come overnight for them. They have a striker (Lewis Grabban) that is making a difference for them, he has scored 16 goals. It is a team that values a lot staying in games, especially away from home where they are one of the ones who has conceded the least goals.

"It makes them very dangerous; they have the mentality of waiting for a mistake and trying to capitalise. If nothing happens make sure they get a point - that's the mentality of the team.

"It forces us to look for excellence to tackle the game and make sure we explore every way possible to secure the three points. They do have weaknesses to exploit and we need to make sure we don’t make mistakes they can use against us."

Tickets and travel

All tickets available to Nottingham Forest fans for this fixture have sold out, with no additional tickets being made available.

Birmingham have provided an away supporters' guide here which may be useful to fans who are travelling to the game on Saturday. 

Referee

Jeremy Simpson from Lancashire will be the man in the middle for Saturday's game. This will be his 19th match of the season, having shown 61 yellow and six red cards in his previous 18.

Simpson officiated in Forest's 2-1 win over Swansea City at The City Ground last season.

Coverage

International subscribers to iFollow Forest will be able to watch the action live, with audio commentary provided by BBC Radio Nottingham also available.

There will be full coverage of the match via the club's official social media channels and in the Match Centre.

Other fixtures

All fixtures to be played at 3pm on Saturday unless otherwise stated:

Cardiff vs Reading (Friday, 7.45pm)
Derby vs Stoke (Friday, 7.45pm)
Hull vs Brentford (Saturday, 12.30pm)
Charlton vs Barnsley
Fulham vs Huddersfield
Leeds vs Wigan
Middlesbrough vs Blackburn
Preston vs Swansea
QPR vs Bristol City
Sheffield Wednesday vs Millwall
West Brom vs Luton