Nottingham Forest were saved from their second straight defeat on Friday night as Jack Colback's deflected strike rescued a point against Queens Park Rangers at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.

Lyndon Dykes' header on the stroke of half-time looked to have won it for Mark Warburton's side, atoning for recent defeats against Peterborough United and League One outfit Sunderland.

But the East Midlands side showed great heart as they fought until the end, finally getting their reward through the central midfielder's shot as they stole a point from the capital.

 

 

After losing 4-0 at home to automatic promotion favourites Fulham in their fixture previous to their clash against QPR, this morale-boosting equaliser was much-needed as they take on a very strong side in Sheffield United tomorrow night.

Previously tipped to be title contenders following their relegation from the Premier League and the appointment of Slavisa Jokanovic, they have slipped down to 17th after a disappointing home defeat at the weekend to Blackpool.

They may be one place above Forest as things stand, but they look vulnerable and will drop down further if Steve Cooper's men can come out of this tie victorious, with tomorrow evening's home side having the opportunity to leapfrog the Blades.

This promises to be a fascinating tie between two sides currently battling it out in the bottom half of the table - and the respective manager's team selections could be crucial in determining the outcome of this match.

With this in mind, we have selected our predicted lineup for Forest going into this midweek clash between two big clubs.

After Friday's 1-1 draw against a strong Championship side in QPR, just one change has been made to the starting lineup but there's a small tweak to the system.

Brice Samba remains in goal after a solid showing in west London - and having a backup goalkeeper in Ethan Horvath should allow him to retain and maximise his performance levels. He does have a mistake in him but after doing well on Friday, Cooper can't really afford to drop him.

Max Lowe is one man who probably has to come out, with parent club Sheffield United unlikely to give the Reds consent to play him tomorrow considering how integral he is to the team. In his place, Gaetan Bong comes in despite scepticism from many Forest fans about his capabilities.

He should receive a fresh start under a new manager though and it would be hard to see him not coming in considering he was on the bench last week. Djed Spence remains on the right.

With Rodrigo Ely and Loic Mbe Soh still out, Tobias Figueiredo retains his place in central defence alongside the reliable Scott McKenna and Joe Worrall. The latter may have been the subject of Premier League interest from Southampton in the summer, but McKenna is also a gem in the second-tier side's team.

One man that has richly benefitted from manager Cooper's appointment is Ryan Yates, who looks a completely different player now and is in line to start alongside Friday's hero Colback again.

Up front is where the system switch comes. Joe Lolley was lively in behind Lewis Grabban and Brennan Johnson against the R's and deserves to keep his place because of it, but he returns to his more orthodox position on the wing along with Brennan Johnson who starts on the right-hand side.

Johnson's turn of pace is frightening, something that was seen on the opening day of the season against Coventry City in the lead up to Lyle Taylor's goal.

It may be daft to switch to one up top with Sheffield United's three central defenders - but Johnson's speed against Enda Stevens could make the difference and the system change in general would certainly give them a sense of unpredictability going into this tie.

Predicted Substitutes: Horvath, Back, Garner, Ojeda, Mighten, Zinckernagel, Taylor