Nottingham Forest continue their preparations for the new season with a friendly against Spanish outfit Elche on Friday evening.
Both the Premier League and La Liga side have, so far, put together unbeaten runs during their July schedule ahead of their clash at the Pinatar Arena Football Center.
Match preview
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With a full pre-season at his disposal, Nuno Espirito Santo will be confident of getting Forest into a position where they can hit the new Premier League campaign running next month.
As it stands, they are well on track to achieve that level of fitness and consistency, coming through their first three fixtures without suffering defeat.
On the back of a 3-0 victory at Chesterfield, Forest travelled to Spain, earning a comeback 1-1 draw in a meeting with Sunderland on July 19.
Four days later, goals from Chris Wood and Callum Hudson-Odoi earned the East Midlands outfit a 2-1 win over Millwall in a game that needed to be moved due to the hot weather in Murcia.
Another game being played three days on from that encounter is far from ideal, yet Nuno will hope that the trip stands his side in good stead going forward.
From Elche's perspective, they began pre-season in fine style as they recorded a 2-0 victory over Saudi Pro League giants Al-Ittihad.
That was followed by a 3-0 success at CF Intercity, their cause being helped by a sending-off for their opponents, yet Sebastian Beccacece would have viewed the contest beneficial for building momentum.
Elche require that after a desperately-disappointing 2023-24 where they finished in 11th position in the second tier of Spanish football, their first since relegation from La Liga.
Games against Castellon and Al-Ettifaq are also scheduled before they commence their league season with a home match versus Huesca on August 18.
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Team News
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Forest will almost certainly be without midfielder Elliot Anderson after he sustained a knock towards the end of the first half against Millwall.
Hudson-Odoi replaced him on that occasion, but with two different sides being selected for each 45 minutes, Anthony Elanga also comes into contention for a start.
Elche goalkeeper Edgar Badia replaced Miguel San Roman between the sticks on the half-hour mark against CF Intercity and could start this contest.
Beccacece made major changes at half time and, like with Forest, it is unclear whether similar starting lineups will be selected or he will mix and match.
Elche possible starting lineup:
Roman; Bigas, Plano, Mourad, Salinas, Febas, Nunez, Josan, Barzic, Rodri, Houary
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Turner; Moreira, Boly, Murillo, Toffolo; Sangare, Danilo, Domínguez; Gibbs-White, Wood, Hudson-Odoi
We say: Elche 1-3 Nottingham Forest
Although both teams will enter this contest with plenty of confidence, superior quality should begin to show through now that players are getting more miles in the legs. With that in mind, we expect a strong performance from Forest, who should have enough firepower to prevail in Spain.
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Darren Plant
