Brentford travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Thursday evening (7.30pm kick-off GMT), live on Sky Sports.

The west Londoners will be looking to carry the momentum from their last league match - a superb 4-2 win over Brighton and Hove Albion at Gtech Community Stadium. Forest head into the game on the back of their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know before the Bees' latest test.

Pre-match Analysis

Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: Brentford have to stop Nottingham Forest's aerial and counter-attacking threats

Brentford travel to the City Ground on Thursday to take on recently-defeated FA Cup semi-finalists Nottingham Forest in what could be a difficult fixture.

The last time these two faced each other was at the Gtech, and it was the visitors who emerged with the three points to end the Bees' unbeaten home record.

That win came during Forest's superb winter period that saw them win eight and draw one of nine games in all competitions from 7 December until 19 January. Now, though, it seems like Nuno Espírito Santo's side have lost some of their early steam, even if they are still performing far higher than initial expectations.

Since mid-February, 11 teams - including Brentford (15) - have earned more points than Forest (13), albeit with both of those sides having played one game fewer than the rest. Impressively, the west Londoners have conceded just eight goals in that timeframe, something only Arsenal can beat with seven.

Of course, Forest can't be underestimated and their dangers are now well known - they are a threat on the counter with rapid players like Anthony Elanga, and from set-pieces with the aerial prowess of Chris Wood.

Indeed, Wood ranks fourth in the league with 19 goals this season (just ahead of Bryan Mbeumo), with seven of those coming from headers - that's three more headed goals than anyone else in the league.

In fact, the Tricky Trees have 11 headed goals in total across their side, which is the joint-highest of a Premier League team alongside Arsenal and the Bees.

Meanwhile, there have been a total of 14 set-piece goals from Forest, a tally that only Crystal Palace (15) are able to better so far. Just to add to the different dynamics of Forest's threat, they have also scored 11 goals from outside the box, a number that only Manchester City can beat.

The key then will be for Brentford to make sure creative outlets like Elanga (nine assists in total this season, only five players have more), Morgan Gibbs-White (17 goal-creating actions, the same as Mbeumo), and Callum Hudson-Odoi (126 progressive carries, the ninth-highest) are kept quiet.

Perhaps a bigger challenge will be breaking Forest down with Nuno's side having the third-best defensive record in the league with just 39 goals conceded this season behind only newly-crowned champions Liverpool (32) and Arsenal (29).

The defensive unit has helped goalkeeper Matz Sels top the charts for clean sheets this season (13) while his 107 saves made are only bettered by Mark Flekken (113).

The back line includes Nikola Milenković, whose aerial prowess means that he is just as much of a threat in the opposition box (four goals scored) as he is defending his own this season.

The classy Murillo, meanwhile, has made 66 blocks this season (Nathan Collins is the only player to have had more) and has made more clearances, 219, than any defender.

So while this may be a good time for Brentford to face this season's surprise package, they must be taken seriously as they will be out to bounce back from their Wembley disappointment.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: A sleeping giant of English football has awoken from a long slumber

For a game that is so simple in its premise, football can be brilliantly unpredictable at times.

Nottingham Forest have shown just that this season.

After 23 years away from the Premier League, they survived only by four points in 2022/23 and six in 2023/24. Who would have foreseen, then, that Nuno Espírito Santo’s side would, with five games remaining in 2024/25, look nailed on for a top-six finish - and maybe even the top three?

Certainly not the bookmakers, who had Forest down among the favourites for a return to the Championship this term. But this has not been a case of luck and good fortune - far from it.

With a first win over Liverpool at Anfield since February 1969, as well as a first victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford since 1994, under their belts, the Tricky Trees broke into the top four with a 2-1 success over Aston Villa on 14 December and they have not dropped away since.

On Boxing Day, they surpassed last season’s points return of 32. On 14 January, they surpassed 40. And with the 2-1 win at Tottenham in their last league game, they reached 60.

Bettering their best-ever return of 77 points is not possible from here, even if they do win each of their last five. Based on their average of 1.82 points per game, they will finish on 69 points. But they will consider it a win to even be in a position to even come close.

Nuno said as much after the 2-1 win at Tottenham last time out.

“We have to realise we’re in a fight no one expected - us included,” he said.

“We don’t want to prove anybody wrong. We have a big desire to compete. We are in the mix against big teams. That can only make us proud. We embrace the challenge. As long as we keep this approach, you never know.”

As they seek out their highest Premier League finish since 1994/95 - when they finished third under Frank Clark - after Brentford’s visit to the City Ground, Forest face Crystal Palace, Leicester, West Ham and Chelsea. On paper, the fixture list could certainly have been harsher.

It has not only been in the league Forest have impressed. After three straight penalty shoot-out wins - over Exeter, Ipswich and Brighton - they reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990/91, when Brian Clough’s side finished as runners-up to Tottenham.

Expectations will, naturally, rise significantly after this season, whatever comes next. That’s what success brings. But a sleeping giant of English football has awoken from a long slumber this season, and fans have been reminded just how good it feels at the top.

In the Dugout

Nuno Espírito Santo

Once signed by José Mourinho during his time at Porto, Nuno Espírito Santo had a long career as a goalkeeper - though often played second fiddle - primarily spent in Portugal and Spain, with time in Russia at Dynamo Moscow during 2005 and 2006.

Nuno retired in 2010, after his second spell at Porto, but quickly went on to become a goalkeeper coach at Malaga and then Panathinaikos, working with his former manager Jesualdo Ferreira each time. He returned to Portugal to take on his first managerial role with Rio Ave in the summer of 2012 and remained at the club for two years.

He was then hired by Valencia, whom he guided to a fourth-place finish in La Liga in 2014/15, though he resigned less than four months into the following campaign after three defeats in their first five Champions League group matches, as well as five wins from the first 13 league matches, which left them languishing in ninth when he departed.

Porto decided to take a chance on their former player in 2016/17, yet he only saw out half of his two-year deal as the club opted to replace him the following summer after he failed to deliver silverware, despite losing only six of his 49 games in charge.

The 51-year-old is perhaps best known for the four years he spent at Wolves. He joined the club at the end of a chaotic 2016/17 campaign - during which they had three permanent managers - and led them to promotion out of the Championship at the first time of asking.

In 2019/20, Wolves recorded their joint-highest Premier League finish (7th) and their highest points tally (59), as well as reaching the quarter-final of the Europa League.

Having left Molineux by mutual consent in June 2021, Nuno went to Tottenham and started well with three straight Premier League wins.

Ultimately, he lasted only four months in the job, having followed up those victories with five defeats in the next seven.

He then spent 16 months in Saudi Arabia, guiding Al-Ittihad to the Saudi Pro League title and Saudi Super Cup, and returned to England just before Christmas 2023, having been sacked little over a month earlier.

The Gameplan

With Sarah Clapson, Nottingham Forest correspondent for Nottinghamshire Live and the Nottingham Post

Sarah Clapson explains how Nuno Espírito Santo's side are likely to set up to face the Bees.

"Forest have had a real clear identity this season," she said. "They have stuck with it pretty much the whole season and it has worked for them.

"The amount of possession that they have in games is probably well-known by now - it is not a lot!

"They are very comfortable without the ball and, when they do get it, they like to get forward quickly, as well as being good at counter attacking.

"They tend to set up in the same way pretty much every week, which is a 4-2-3-1 formation. They have varied that a little bit but, at home particularly, Nuno will want to stick with what has worked, so I can see that being the way to go.

"They are comfortable if the opposition have more possession because they know they have got players who can hurt them when they do get up the pitch."

Last starting XI v Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final (4-2-3-1): Sels; Abbott, Milenković, Murillo, Toffolo; Danilo, Domínguez; Anderson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood

Read our full interview with Sarah Clapson here

Match Officials

England to referee second Brentford game this term

Referee: Darren England

Assistants: Ian Hussin and Akil Howson

Fourth official: Leigh Doughty

VAR: Stuart Attwell

Thursday evening's game at the City Ground will be the 17th Premier League fixture that Darren England has taken charge of this term.

The Doncaster-born official last had the whistle for Brighton's 3-2 win over West Ham United on Saturday. He has issued 108 yellows and four reds in 27 games in all competitions this term.

England refereed Brentford's 1-0 away win over West Ham earlier this term, showing yellow cards to Tomáš Souček and Mikkel Damsgaard.

Memorable meeting

Brentford 3 Nottingham Forest 2 (Premier League, 20 January 2024)

Ivan Toney marked his return from an eight-month ban with a goal as Brentford beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 at Gtech Community Stadium.

The centre-forward, whose last Bees appearance came at Liverpool on 6 May, netted a clever free-kick to equalise for his side after Danilo put Forest ahead inside five minutes.

Ben Mee headed home to put the west Londoners ahead in the second half, before Chris Wood did the same thing to level for the visitors on 65 minutes.

But an incredible spin and volley from Neal Maupay settled the game, as the Bees won for the first time since 2 December.