Coventry City mark their return to the Ricoh Arena by squaring off against Nottingham Forest in their opening Championship fixture of the 2021-22 campaign.
While the Sky Blues are targeting another year of consolidation, their opponents will be looking to mount a bid for the playoffs after a 17th-placed finish last season.
Match preview
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After a season spent looking to avoid an immediate return to League One, Coventry ended the year by collecting 16 points from eight fixtures.
Not only did it further enhance Mark Robins's growing reputation, it brought a feeling of stability ahead of the club's long-awaited return to their home ground.
On the playing front, however, it has been all change with eight additions being made to the squad, the most notable being that of Martyn Waghorn from Derby County.
The forward will bring years of Championship experience to the squad, but there are also high hopes for Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen after his consistent showings at Charlton Athletic last season.
While Robins has taken the opportunity to oversee major alterations, Forest have taken a different approach ahead of their first full season under Chris Hughton.
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As it stands, only one first-team signing has been made with goalkeeper Ethan Horvath arriving from Club Brugge on a free transfer.
More players will inevitably follow the American in moving to the City Ground, but Hughton feels relatively content with his current crop of players.
Lewis Grabban and Lyle Taylor are under pressure to make an impression this season after netting just 10 times between them over the past 12 months.
Nevertheless, academy graduate Brennan Johnson has the potential to emerge as a key man going forward after starring on loan at Lincoln City, netting the same amount of strikes in League One.
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Team News
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Simon Moore, Maatsen and Waghorn are all expected to make their competitive debuts for Coventry on Sunday.
Tyler Walker, who started last week's friendly with Wolverhampton Wanderers on the substitutes' bench, could get the nod over Viktor Gyokeres.
Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel may be provided with an opportunity in the Forest XI after gaining regular experience at Blackpool last season.
Brennan is competing with Joe Lolley and Alex Mighten for the two places either side of Grabban in attack.
Loic Mbe Soh may be preferred to Gaetan Bong at left-back.
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Moore; Hyam, McFadzean, Rose; Dabo, Hamer, Sheaf, Maatsen; O'Hare; Walker, Waghorn
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Samba; Lawrence-Gabriel, McKenna, Worrall, Soh; Yates, Cafu, Colback; Mighten, Grabban, Johnson
We say: Coventry City 1-1 Nottingham Forest
While Forest deserve to be regarded as the marginal favourites ahead of this contest, we cannot ignore the shrewd additions made by Robins. With that in mind and the desire to please a returning crowd, we are backing Coventry to claim a deserved share of the spoils.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Nottingham Forest win with a probability of 36.78%. A win for Coventry City had a probability of 32.15% and a draw had a probability of 31.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nottingham Forest win was 0-1 with a probability of 14.32%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (7.38%) and 1-2 (6.96%). The likeliest Coventry City win was 1-0 (13.1%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 0-0 (13.9%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 6.4% likelihood.
