The Reds, who will have one eye on the East Midlands Derby on Friday night, picked up their first three points of the season with a deflected 90th-minute strike from Joe Lolley to put an end to five straight defeats in all competitions which led to the sacking of Sabri Lamouchi.

Manager Chris Hughton will be hoping to steer his side away from the bottom three by maintaining his winning start to life in the Forest hot seat.

The Millers, who will be without Paul Warne in the dugout after testing positive for Covid-19, are winless in four (losing two and drawing two) and come into this fixture on the back of a late defeat to Norwich City at the weekend.

Rotherham United will be looking to improve their Championship away form, with a win against Forest, previously registering only two wins from their previous 48 away games.

Team news

Forest will be without Joe Worrall, Fouad Bachirou and Tyler Blackett, who are all still injured for this fixture. Harry Arter may also start in place of Jack Colback, who was forced off with injury against Blackburn Rovers. Deadline day signing Anthony Knockaert could make his debut following his loan move from Fulham.

Defender Angus MacDonald will miss tonight’s fixture, serving the first of a three-match ban following his hefty foul on Norwich midfielder, Oliver Skipp. Chieo Ogbenne will miss this fixture through injury.

Predicted Line-ups

Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Samba; Christie, Figueiredo, McKenna, Ioannou; Yates, Arter; Lolley, Freeman, Knockaert; Taylor

Rotherham United (4-3-3): Blackman; Harding, Ihiekwe, Robertson, Mattock; Crooks, S. MacDonald, Barlaser; Miller, Ladapo, Sadlier

Form Guide

Lolley’s 90th-minute deflected strike was the luck that the Reds needed to pick up their first three points of the campaign, lifting themselves out of the bottom three. Previous to that result, Forest’s capitulation at the end of the 2019/20 season, seeing them surrender a playoff place, carried into this season, beginning the campaign with four straight defeats, as well as exiting the Carabao Cup in the first round against Barnsley.

Rotherham began the campaign with a 1-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers, however, since then, the Millers have only picked up two points from a possible 12, with defeats to Millwall and Norwich and draws against Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town. They need to turn this form around if they are to avoid an immediate return to League One.

Ones to watch

Nottingham Forest – Anthony Knockaert

Knockaert joined the Reds last weekend from Premier League side Fulham, which is a great signing to match their promotion ambitions, helping the Cottagers to a playoff triumph last season.

Last season, Knockaert made 1.3 key passes per game and took 1.9 shots per game, registering seven-goal involvements. His best Championship season came in Brighton and Hove Albion’s 2016/17 promotion campaign where he scored 15 goals and recorded eight assists.

Rotherham United – Freddie Ladapo

Freddie Ladapo could be a key man in Rotherham’s bid for survival after getting off the mark in Saturday’s loss to the Canaries. The Millers forward takes the most shots per game [2.3] in his side and last campaign, he netted 14 goals to help United to promotion from League One.

Last time they met

Rotherham were victorious the last time these two sides met at the in April 2019. United took the lead as Michael Ihiekwe’s flick-on, from a Will Vaulks long-throw, landed at the feet of Michael Smith who fired across the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner. Lewis Grabban then equalised for Forest at the second attempt after forcing a good save out of Marek Rodak, however, Ihiekwe headed home the winner for the Millers on the hour.

Forest won the last fixture between the two sides at The City Ground, courtesy of Grabban’s late penalty.

What the managers have said

Hughton believes momentum can be huge as he looks to make it back-to-back wins in his first home game as Forest boss.

Speaking to the official Nottingham Forest website, Hughton said: “We would rather be going into these two home games on the back of a win and the feel of that win, but they are all difficult games in this division.

“Because of the COVID situation and no supporters, there is always that imbalance of being away from home or at home, and what big advantage that used to be has probably changed. They will both be tough games, but now we’ve got that first win under our belts we want to take that into a second one.

“We need to take that forward; it was a good three points and a win but there are so many points to fight for in such a short space of time. What you have got to do is try and get that momentum. In this league, the momentum of winning a few games on the spin, but over a short period of time, can make a huge difference.

“A lot of our game is about momentum and momentum in this division this season will be like no other. If I look at my periods of time in the Championship, I’m not sure I can remember a period of games so close together, before or after the international break.

“Momentum is key, and it doesn’t matter how you win those games, on Saturday we won in a scrappy manner with a scrappy goal. It is always wonderful if you can play expansive football and win that way, but you can’t always and however the wins come in this sequence of games is important.”

Rotherham boss Warne was very complementary to their opponents ahead of the clash against Forest.

"A Chris Hughton side will always be organised, and as we know about him, he’s a winner,” Warne told the official Rotherham United website.

“He’s got teams promoted to the Premier League and it is some coup to get him at any club. Obviously, they’ve got Anthony Knockaert in as well now.

"You look at their front four and it’s probably the best in the league. Behind them they have Colback and Yates, so from a team view, they are excellent.

“They have the quality to be in the top six, as they were for the majority of last season. They won at Blackburn at the weekend, which was an excellent result as well, it will be a very tough game."

Where to watch

The only way to view this clash live on Tuesday 20 October is by purchasing an 'iFollow' match pass on either of the club’s website.

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