Preview: Nottingham Forest vs. Millwall – prediction, team news, lineups

Both aiming to avoid their first defeat of pre-season, Nottingham Forest and Millwall square off at the Pinatar Arena in Southern Spain for Tuesday’s friendly in sweltering conditions.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side settled for a 1-1 draw against Sunderland on Friday in their second exhibition game of the summer, while their Championship counterparts defeated Reading 2-1 in Wokingham.

Six days on from an effortless 3-0 beating of Chesterfield in their opening pre-season encounter, Nottingham Forest crossed the Black Cats’ path in Friday’s tussle with Sunderland, the first of three fixtures Santo’s side will take part in during their Spanish sojourn.

The Garibaldi entered the break needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit, as Jack Clarke stroked home from the penalty spot after the highly-rated Chris Rigg was felled by Murillo, but the Premier League outfit restored parity just three minutes into the second period through Omar Richards.

It took a top save from Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson to deny Ryan Yates a winning goal right at the death, after which Santo labelled the stalemate a “typical” pre-season fixture, lamenting the Spanish heat and the “slow” pace of the game.

The Portuguese’s wish for a more energetic encounter may go unfulfilled until Forest touch back down on English soil – the Tricky Trees will conclude their training camp against Elche on July 27, before returning to the City Ground to host Villarreal early next month.

Forest’s final pre-season fixture takes Santo’s side to Greece for a showdown with Olympiacos – another club under the control of owner Evangelos Marinakis – before the Garibaldi begin their latest quest for Premier League survival against Bournemouth on August 17.

The day before their two-goal stalemate with Sunderland, Nottingham Forest confirmed the capture of Serbia international defender Nikola Milenkovic from Fiorentina, but the 26-year-old will not make his debut just yet as he continues his post-Euro 2024 recovery.

Belgian goalkeeper Matz Sels is in the same boat, as is Argentina right-back Gonzalo Montiel – who won the Copa America with his country – but USA goalkeeper Matt Turner played the second half of Friday’s draw.

New acquisition Carlos Miguel completed the first 45 of that tie before making way for his American foe, while Elliot Anderson was also given a 45-minute run-out after his arrival from Newcastle United.

Speaking of new goalkeepers, Millwall shot-stopper Lukas Jensen was the only player to complete over an hour of the beating of Reading, where fellow summer signings Macaulay Langstaff and Japhet Tanganga also appeared.

The latter was given a 30-minute run-out but may now be promoted to the first XI against Premier League opposition, while Wes Harding played an hour on Friday following his return from Copa America duty with Jamaica.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Turner; Williams, Boly, Murillo, Toffolo; Dominguez, Danilo; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Dennis

Millwall possible starting lineup:
Jensen; McNamara, Tanganga, Cooper, Bryan; Watmore, Saville, Honeyman, Esse; Langstaff, Nisbet