Coventry vs Nottingham Forest Prediction and Betting Tip

COVENTRY host Nottingham Forest on Sunday in the Championship. Daniel McCulloch (@DMcCulloch1984) shares his favourite fancies.

Coventry vs Nottingham Forest | Sunday 8th August 2021, 16:30 | Sky Sports

West host East in this Midlands derby as Coventry return to the Coventry Building Society Arena (formerly The Ricoh Arena) having spent a couple of seasons as Birmingham City’s tenants.

Last season was certainly a better season for the hosts than tomorrow’s opponents, with Coventry surely the happier with a lower mid-table finish. 16^th place on their return to The Championship was a far better achievement for The Sky Blues than a 17^th position for Forest, who had only missed out on the playoffs on the final day of the previous season.

There were high expectations for Forest at the start of last season, but after four defeats to start the season, Sabri Lamouchi was replaced by Chris Hughton.

While Hughton steadied the ship, Forest hardly enthralled and a return of 37 goals from 46 league games shows just how much they struggled in front of goal. Their top scorer last season was Lewis Grabban, who managed just six goals and I don’t see them suddenly becoming free-scoring.

Hughton has an excellent record at this level, having performed well for Birmingham and Brighton but his sides have always adopted a defensive approach and if Forest are to have a successful season, I expect them to have a lot of 1-0 victories.

Coventry were far more entertaining last season, managing 49 goals themselves but again they seem devoid of a goalscorer, with Des Walker’s son Tyler their top scorer with seven goals.

I really want to avoid goals here and while the return of fans leaves me slightly concerns that we will be more entertained than I expect, the lack of other alternatives leads me to stick with my original plan and back Both Teams To Score ‘No' at 5/6 with BetVictor.

This would have landed in 24 of Coventry’s 46 matches league matches last season and 27 of Forest’s. That suggests that this is of slight value and it is an angle I will be taking very often where the aware side are concerned this term. I did also look at backing the draw at half time but will keep it simple and go for the one angle this time out.