Nottingham Forest are the next team to face Paul Warne’s Rotherham United as they travel to the ASSEAL New York Stadium on Saturday. We take a look at who the Millers will be facing in this Sky Bet Championship fixture in our opposition analysis…
In the Dugout
Martin O’Neill will be the man in the dugout for Nottingham Forest on Saturday. The 67-year old was a former midfielder in his playing days, starting his youth career at Rosario and Derry City. He represented today’s visitors over 280 times as a player between 1971 and 1981 and also turned out for a variety of English clubs including Manchester City, Norwich City and Notts County. He also earned over 60 caps for Northern Ireland in his International career.
As a manager, he has coached a variety of English clubs which include Norwich, Leicester, Aston Villa and Sunderland as well as managing Celtic in Scotland. He was also the manager of the Republic of Ireland national side between 2013 and 2018.
Stats
Nottingham Forest currently sit in ninth position, three points off the Play-offs at the time of writing. They have won two of their last five, drawing once and losing twice. In their last five, they have scored in their last four, scoring seven goals in the process. Their most recent game was a 2-1 victory over Swansea City. After Connor Roberts put Swansea ahead, Daryl Murphy and Molla Wagué scored goals on the 80th and 87th minute respectively to give Forest all three points.
Previous Meetings
This is the 37th meeting between these sides with the first being in January 1930 in the FA Cup, with Forest winning 5-0. The Millers have only won six times and they haven’t beaten Forest since 1956. Forest have prevailed 19 times while there has been 11 draws. In 1956, a 3-2 home victory for Rotherham sealed three points in the League Division Two. In the last five meetings between the sides, there have been two draws and three victories for Forest. The last fixture between the sides was a 1-0 victory for Forest at the City Ground in September 2018. A Lewis Grabban penalty gave Forest all three points in the Championship on that day.
Ones to Watch
Our ones to watch start with 6ft 8in goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon. The Romanian international and former Watford keeper has won the Premier League, Football League Cup and the FA Community Shield while at Manchester City. The 32-year old also has represented Sunderland, Deportivo La Coruña and Politehnica Timișoara in his career.
In defence, former Leicester City defender Yohan Benalouane will be the man to watch. The 32-year old started his career at Saint-Étienne after youth spells at FC Tricastin and Racing Blondel Bollène. He has also represented Cesena, Parma, Atlanta and Florentina in his club career and has represented France at U21 level before opting to play for Tunisia at senior level.
In midfield, Joe Lolley is the man to watch out for. The impressive midfielder has scored nine goals this season and has 11 assists to his name. The 26-year old started at Birmingham City before spells at Bromsgrove Rovers, Littleton and Kidderminster Harriers led to a move to Huddersfield Town. He also had a loan spell at Scunthorpe United before helping Huddersfield to promotion to the Premier League. The former England C international joined Nottingham Forest in January 2018 and has made over fifty appearances for the club.
Upfront, former Rotherham striker Lewis Grabban is their top scorer with 16 goals this season. The 31-year old represented Rotherham for one season, 2011/12 in League Two, making 47 appearances and scoring 21 goals. The forward has also represented a variety of English clubs including Brentford, Norwich, Sunderland and Aston Villa.