Nottingham Forest mood change ahead of Leeds United clash as defender outlines boost
Leeds United head to the City Ground on Sunday for a huge bottom-of-the-table Premier League meeting.
Nottingham Forest defender Neco Williams has felt a positive change of mood between squad and fans just in time for their Premier League meeting with Leeds United.
Leeds head to the City Ground on Sunday hoping to at least maintain the current five-point gap between themselves and their hosts, who sit 19th after a chaotic start to the campaign. Forest qualified for European football last season but have won just once in the Premier League and are onto their third manager already.
Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked in September as a rift emerged with owner Evangelos Marinakis but his replacement, Ange Postecoglou, lasted just 39 days. Forest have suddenly gone from European contention to a relegation battle and hired Sean Dyche as head coach number three in a bid to stave off disaster.
Williams was one yellow card away from missing Sunday’s meeting with Leeds through suspension but came through a 2-2 draw against Manchester United without being booked. Forest’s immediate focus is on tonight’s Europa League meeting with Sturm Graz in Austria but the City Ground is becoming a difficult place to go again.
“You can feel the togetherness back,” Williams told NottinghamshireLive. “I think we missed that at the start of the season. Not just with us teammates and the staff, but with the fans as well. We missed that bond and that connection, but I feel like it’s all come back together now.
“Hopefully we can keep building and keep getting points. It hasn’t been the start to the season any of us would have wanted. It has been up and down. But the bare minimum you can do is give absolutely everything, work hard and do all the basics right.
“That’s what I’ve stuck to. You are going to have dips and bad runs of form. But the least you can do is work as hard as you can and leave everything out there.”
Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United early team news
Last weekend’s draw against Manchester United was the first point Forest had taken at home since the opening round of fixtures. It was also the first time they’d even scored since that 3-1 win over Brentford, with Chelsea, Sunderland and West Ham all keeping clean sheets at the City Ground.
Forest lost midfielder Douglas Luiz just 14 minutes into last weekend’s draw and the midfielder is expected to miss Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury, while Callum Hudson-Odoi is also a doubt. Former Leeds striker Chris Wood is out until after the November international break while Dilane Bakwa, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ola Aina are all sidelined.
Conversely, Leeds went into this week with a virtually clean bill of health, with Willy Gnonto the only player to miss last Saturday’s trip to Brighton as he continues to build fitness after a long period out. Daniel Farke will provide an update on the state of his squad in his pre-Forest press conference on Friday.