Forest team news: Lallana to start, Mitoma out

Albion will look to bring an end to a run of two consecutive defeats on Tuesday night as they take on Nottingham Forest at the Amex, kick-off 7.30pm.

Having lost to Tottenham and Brentford, Roberto De Zerbi is still looking for his first win as Albion head coach, although his team did take a point at Liverpool in his first game.

They face a Forest team who have one win to their name after ten games and sit bottom of the Premier League.

The Reds have shown their faith in manager Steve Cooper in recent weeks though, handing him a new contract that runs until 2025 after guiding Forest back to the top flight for the first time since 1999.

Team news

Roberto De Zerbi confirmed that Adam Lallana will start Tuesday night’s game, while Kaoru Mitoma misses out after picking up an ankle injury against Brentford.

The Italian said that the Japan international may also miss the Manchester City game on Saturday.

Our last meeting

As Albion closed in on promotion to the Premier League, they suffered an unexpected slip-up, as a Zach Clough brace and a goal from Ben Osborn condemned Albion to a 3-0 defeat in March 2017.

Forest player to watch

Morgan Gibbs-White became Forest’s club record signing when he joined them in the summer for a reported £25 million fee with add-ons. The England under-21 international has started all but one of his new side’s Premier League games and is yet to score, but has two assists to his name.

Stats

Brighton have won their last two home league games against Nottingham Forest, with this their first such meeting since August 2016 (3-0).

This is the ninth top-flight meeting between Brighton and Nottingham Forest, and first since January 1983. After losing their first two, Nottingham Forest are unbeaten in the last six (W5 D1).

Brighton are winless in their last eight midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League games (D3 L5) since beating Manchester City 3-2 in May 2021. The Seagulls have lost each of their last four such games by an aggregate score of 9-1.

In a run stretching back to 1996, Nottingham Forest have won just one of their last 14 midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) Premier League games (D5 L8), winning 1-0 at West Ham in January 1997. They lost 6-0 against Manchester City in their only such game this term.

Brighton lost their last home Premier League match, ending a seven-game unbeaten run in the league at the Amex Stadium. However, the Seagulls are unbeaten in their last seven home league games against promoted sides (W3 D4).

Brighton have lost consecutive Premier League games for the first time since a run of six in February/March last season. Meanwhile, the Seagulls have conceded 10 goals in their last five Premier League games, one more than they had in their previous 13 (9).

Nottingham Forest are winless in eight Premier League games (D2 L6), while they’re without a win away from home at all so far this season (D1 L4). They last failed to win any of their first six on the road in a top-flight campaign back in 1992-93.

Nottingham Forest haven't won any of their last 40 Premier League games when they've conceded first, losing 32 times in the process (D8) – including losing all five games this season when conceding first.

After scoring three goals from just six attempts in Roberto De Zerbi’s first match in charge, Brighton have failed to score with any of their 35 shots over their last two Premier League games (14 vs Spurs, 21 vs Brentford).

Roberto De Zerbi is looking to avoid becoming the first Brighton manager to fail to win any of his first four league games in charge since Barry Lloyd, who failed to win his first 12 in charge between January and April 1987.

Match officials

Referee: Darren England.

Assistants: James Mainwaring, Wade Smith.

Fourth official: James Linington.

VAR: Mike Dean.

Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton.