Chris Sutton labels Sunday's game as the 'Wood cutter' derby as he predicts the winner between NFFC and NUFC
The Premier League's early surprise act this season has been Nottingham Forest who find themselves in third place going into Sunday's game against Newcastle United.
Having just beaten Chelsea and Arsenal back-to-back, Newcastle will be heading into the 2pm Sky Sports televised game on Sunday with a new air of confidence.
However, given Forest's start to the season and the goal-scoring exploits of former Magpie Chris Wood, the confidence in the City Ground will be equally high.
It's not just Chris Wood that Newcastle need to be mindful of. Nottingham Forest's £35 million summer acquisition from Newcastle, Elliot Anderson is enjoying his football in the East Midlands too.
Chris Sutton is predicting a bad day at the office for Newcastle
With such prominent ex-Newcastle players, the potential for headlines is right there, and Chris Sutton expects Forest to be grabbing those headlines after the game on Sunday as he predicts the score for the BBC.
"In many respects this is a battle of two strikers. I loved Alexander Isak's header for Newcastle against Arsenal last week. It was a classic centre-forward’s finish.
"But this is the Chris Wood derby - aka the 'Wood Chopper' derby - and I am backing him to give Nottingham Forest the cutting edge they need against his former club.
"Forest are a team with good balance in that they set out not to concede but they also have players who can threaten on the counter.
"Their confidence must be sky-high and I see their good run continuing.
"Sutton's prediction: 2-1"
A blank from Chris Wood would be nice
Sutton has fallen back in line with Paul Merson who also predicted a 2-1 win for Forest.
It's definitely not going to be easy. If Newcastle were at home we'd be confident of the win, but we're still not sure how Newcastle will be on the road with this new formation that Eddie Howe has played recently.
Avoiding another Chris Wood hattrick would be nice though.
| PL | GD | PTS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
11 | 15 | 28 |
| 2 |
|
11 | 9 | 23 |
| 3 |
|
11 | 8 | 19 |
| 4 |
|
11 | 6 | 19 |
| 5 |
|
11 | 5 | 19 |
| 6 |
|
11 | 4 | 19 |
| 7 |
|
11 | 3 | 18 |
| 8 |
|
11 | 2 | 18 |
| 9 |
|
11 | 0 | 18 |
| 10 |
|
11 | 10 | 16 |
| 11 |
|
11 | 0 | 16 |
| 12 |
|
11 | 0 | 15 |
| 13 |
|
11 | 0 | 15 |
| 14 |
|
11 | -6 | 12 |
| 15 |
|
11 | -7 | 10 |
| 16 |
|
11 | -7 | 10 |
| 17 |
|
11 | -10 | 8 |
| 18 |
|
11 | -7 | 7 |
| 19 |
|
11 | -11 | 6 |
| 20 |
|
11 | -14 | 4 |
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