Forest and Brentford renew their rivalry this weekend at the Gtech. Neither team has been in top form lately, and both will surely be looking to get back to winning ways for the first time since mid-September. However, the Bees have drawn a league-leading five games so far, with Forest drawing three, so don't be too surprised if the score finishes level.
Recent history
After failing to win in any of their first three visits to the Gtech Community Stadium, Forest have beaten the Bees 2-0 in their last two meetings. Forest were one of only three teams to do the double against the Bees last season (Brighton and Manchester City were the other two).
Team news
Brentford midfielder Yehor Yarmoliuk will serve the third and final game of his red card ban. All of the other Bees who have been available for recent matches should be available on Saturday as well.
Opta Power Ranking
As of Friday, the Bees have an edge over Forest in Opta's Power Ranking. Even after their midweek loss, the Bees are still ranked the 17th-best club in the world.
Opta's Power Ranking of Brentford and Nottingham Forest
| Team | Global rank | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Brentford | #17 | 92.2 |
| Nottingham Forest | #27 | 90.7 |
Other data stories
Unlucky woodwork
Forest have been unlucky this year, starting the season by hitting the woodwork six times in their opening eight games.
The Bees have only hit the woodwork once in the Premier League this season (Igor Thiago against Tottenham), but opponents have hit it twice (Sunderland and Liverpool).
Unlucky Thiago
Much has been said about Thiago's drop in scoring this season compared to last. After eight league games in 2025-26, Thiago had already scored five goals. At the same point this season, he only has one (though he does have two additional goals in the League Cup).
While this isn't great for Bees fans, not all hope is lost. We've looked at his expected goals over these eight-game periods, and we can see that he's getting scoring opportunities at an almost identical rate of 0.46 expected goals per game this season compared to 0.44 last season. This suggests that when luck starts to break his way, we should see him putting the ball in the net regularly again.
Comparing Thiago xG and Goals from 2025-26 to 2026-27 (source: Correlation FC)
His expected goal totals have been similar, as have his shots per 90 (2.27 vs 2.30). However, his shots on target per 90 have dropped dramatically from 1.18 last season to 0.50 this season.
Thiago's first Premier League goal did come against Forest in the opening game of the Andrews era. Perhaps he'll find the back of the net again this time.
This story was published on 30 October 2026. It was written by Dennis Flood. The image at the top of this story was generated using AI.
