Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham Betting Tips & Preview

Pre-match analysis, as published 28 August 2026

Nottingham Forest to win

Forest are the pick here, and it comes down to a blend of recent home form patterns, a dominant head-to-head record and the fact that, results-wise, neither side arrives in especially convincing shape. Our model puts Forest's chances at 45.4%, comfortably the most likely of the three outcomes even if the price of 2.62 doesn't scream conviction. This is a Premier League fixture in the regular season, and on the balance of everything below, backing the home side to get the job done looks the most sensible read of where the value in outcomes lies, not because of any gap between odds and model numbers, but because Forest have simply had Spurs' number in recent years and the underlying form lines don't obviously favour the visitors either.

Recent Form

Nottingham Forest's last five outings make for mixed reading. Draws against Newcastle United and AFC Bournemouth either side of a defeat to Manchester United suggest a side capable of holding its own against stronger opposition without quite finding the extra edge to win those games. More concerning is the pair of home defeats to Leeds United in late August, both games lost in front of their own supporters, which will have raised some questions about form heading into this one. Still, there's enough in the earlier results to suggest Forest aren't miles off the pace.

Tottenham's recent record is similarly patchy. A draw at home to Leeds and a defeat away at Chelsea were followed by a win over Everton, so form dipped and recovered in that stretch. Then came a loss away at Brentford in late August before a win at home to Charlton Athletic most recently. That's two wins, two defeats and a draw from the last five for Spurs, essentially the same mixed bag as their hosts, and there's little in either side's recent sequence that points to a clear favourite on current form alone.

Head-to-Head

This is where Forest's case strengthens considerably. Of the last five meetings between these two sides, Forest have won four and drawn none of the other, with Tottenham's only success coming back in April 2024. Forest won home and away fixtures in this sequence, including victories in March 2026, December 2025 and December 2024, as well as an away win at Tottenham in April 2025. That's a striking pattern of dominance over a relatively recent run of matches, and it's hard to ignore when assessing the most likely outcome here, even allowing for the fact that past head-to-head results don't guarantee anything about how this specific match will play out.

Team News

Nottingham Forest have one absentee of note, with Willy Boly continuing to be sidelined by a knee injury that has kept him out since February 2026. Tottenham Hotspur have two players missing, with Wilson Odobert out since February 2026 with a cruciate ligament tear and Xavi Simons also unavailable due to a cruciate ligament injury sustained more recently, in April 2026. Both sides are therefore missing at least one player of significance, and with Tottenham carrying two long-term absentees compared to Forest's one, the team news does little to shift the picture away from Forest as the favoured side on the balance of the evidence available.