Match preview: FC Utrecht vs Nottingham, 00:45 on December 12th: An easy target for Forest.

FC Utrecht vs Nottingham form

Thanks to their fourth-place finish in the Dutch league last season, FC Utrecht secured a place in the Europa League from the second qualifying round. Despite having to travel away from home for all their matches, the team under coach Ron Jans still managed to defeat Sheriff Tiraspol (7-2), Servette (5-2), and Zrinjski Mostar (2-0) to advance to the classification stage.

However, FC Utrecht's impressive qualifying campaign doesn't mean they'll continue to perform well when facing tougher opponents. After 5 matches, the team from the Netherlands has only managed to earn a meager 1 point, ranking 32nd out of 36 and having little hope of making it into the play-off group for a place in the round of 16.

Currently, the gap between FC Utrecht and 24th place, the "gateway" to the play-offs, has widened to 5 points. With remaining matches against Nottingham, Genk, and Celtic, all teams currently in the 9-24 group, the chances of the Utrecht team making a significant leap up the table are not considered high.

Not only have FC Utrecht shown a poor performance in continental competitions, but they are also performing quite disappointingly in the national league. In the last 11 rounds, coach Ron Jans's team has only won 3, drawn 4, and lost 4. The only bright spot in that run of matches is perhaps their recent unbeaten streak of 5 games at home (3 wins, 2 draws).

In the Dutch Eredivision, FC Utrecht currently sits in 7th place with 22 points. Given their slim chances of progressing in the Europa League, it's possible the Galgenwaard Stadium team will consider focusing on improving their performance and ranking in the domestic league.

Conversely, Nottingham desperately needs points to achieve their goal of finishing in the top 8. Before their trip to the Netherlands, Sean Dyche's team was ranked 16th with 8 points, 2 points behind the top 8.

Match preview: FC Utrecht vs Nottingham, 00:45 on December 12th: An easy target for Forest - image 2 — Nottingham desperately needs points to achieve their goal of finishing in the top eight.

A win would certainly significantly improve Forest's current league position. However, the problem for the visitors lies in their somewhat inconsistent form recently. In their last three Premier League matches, the City Ground side lost two and only won one.

In the Premier League table after 15 rounds, Nottingham has dropped to 17th place, just above the relegation zone with only 2 points more. They need to balance securing all 3 points at Galgenwaard with conserving energy for this weekend's battle against Tottenham.

The task won't be easy, but against FC Utrecht, whose hopes in the Europa League are almost dashed, the visitors' chances of winning are still considered higher.

Team news for FC Utrecht vs Nottingham

FC Utrecht: Davy van den Berg, Victor Jensen, Noah Ohio, Emirhan Demircan and Kolbeinn Finnsson are unavailable for various reasons.

Nottingham: Several key players are missing due to injury, including Ola Aina, Douglas Luiz, Taiwo Awoniyi, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Dilane Bakwa, Chris Wood, and Angus Gunn. Omari Hutchinson and Jair Cunha are also absent from the European Cup squad.

Predicted lineups for FC Utrecht vs Nottingham

FC Utrecht: Barkas; Horemans, Van de Hoorn, Viergever, El Karouani; Bozdogan, Ongena, De Wit; Rodriguez, Min, Cathline

Nottingham: Victor; Abbott, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams; Dominguez, Sangare; Ndoye, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi; Kalimuendo

Prediction: 1-2

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/nhan-dinh-tran-dau-fc-utrecht-vs-nottingham-0h45-ngay-1212-mieng-moi-ngon-cho-forest-187315.html