Weekend action **part 2**

Nottingham Forest V Northampton

Nottingham forest will look to continue on their journey back to the top tiers of the English leagues as they take on Northampton at home on Saturday. Their home form has been impressive and their only defeat came on match day two to Leeds. With Leyton Orient facing a tough away tie at Carlisle and Swansea also facing a tricky game against Southend, the chance is there for Forest to get back the top spot. Colin Calderwood has challenged his players to pick up the pace and take 6 points in their next two league games, which are both at home. Midweek they were knocked out of the FA Cup at the hands of Luton town and in doing so lost out on a glamour tie with Liverpool in the next round. Now they have the league to concentrate on and with Leeds driving their way up the ladder its imperative for the likes of Nottingham to take advantage of the home venue and take as many points as possible.

Nottingham Forest last 5 home games

Nott'm Forest 0 0 Doncaster 20/10/2007
Nott'm Forest 0 0 Oldham 30/10/2007
Nott'm Forest 2 0 Tranmere 03/11/2007
Nott'm Forest 4 1 Southend 06/11/2007
Nott'm Forest 2 0 Crewe 24/11/2007

Team news
Kris Commons, Arron Davies and Junior Agogo are all fit again and forcing for starting places. Calderwood has confirmed he does not have any fresh injury concerns but will have to make do without injured Julian Bennett and the suspended Sammy Clingan.

Northampton
Northampton sit in 18th place. Their away form has been poor with 5 defeats and only 6 points taken from a possible 27. They came up against table toppers Swansea last time out and were comfortably beaten 3 – 0. Their main problem especially away from home has been in their defence, only one clean sheet away from home and they are up against a Forest attack that has scored 15 goals at the City ground this year.
Boss Stuart Gray has this week stated his concern at the lack of goals his side has scored and has called on his player to take the pressure off Andy Kirk, top scorer this season. (who is out injured)

Northampton last 5 away games

Millwall 2 0 Northampton 02/10/2007
Luton 4 1 Northampton 15/10/2007
Oldham 0 1 Northampton 27/10/2007
Crewe 1 0 Northampton 17/11/2007
Swansea 3 0 Northampton 04/12/2007


Team news
Former Forest defender Chris Doig is nursing a serious hamstring injury and is not expected back until sometime in the New Year.
The Cobblers will also be without injured duo Giles Coke and Andy Kirk, while Andy Holt is a doubt with an ankle injury.

Verdict

Forest were knocked out of the FA Cup midweek and will be looking for a speedy return to winning ways. Northampton have struggled to score goals with only 3 in their last 7. Their main man Andy kirk (11 goals) is out and its hard to see them troubling a Forest defence that has only conceded 2 goals on their last 7 home games. Comfortable home win is the call

Nottingham forest 3 – 0 Northampton

PICK
Nottingham forest -1 asian hdcp (1.99 @ canbet) 5 points