Dougie Freedman: ‘Middlesbrough will win the Championship this season’

Forest hold a slight historical advantage, however, as they have 25 wins to Boro’s 22.

The Reds were unfortunate not to claim at least a point from an entertaining game, after seeing Konstantopoulos make a quartet of saves to deny Ryan Mendes and Eric Lichaj twice, before then performing heroics to deny Forest’s skipper from the spot.

Midfielder Albert Adomah returned to the fold in that game having resolved his differences with Karanka, scoring one goal and making another after being introduced as a substitute, and he will hope for further involvement at the weekend.

On the injury front, Ben Gibson has shaken off a hamstring injury and will be fit for the trip to Trentside, however Jonathan Woodgate will miss out.

The only absentee’s will be long-term injured trio Rhys Williams, Damia Abella and Alex Baptiste. Dougie Freedman.

“Players are putting their effort into the team now”.

How Forest set up for the game will be another matter entirely, given Boro’s significant strengths.

The Forest manager, Dougie Freedman, felt his side had done enough to secure something from the game, possibly even to win it, and had no complaints about their performance.

Middlesbrough might be up where they want to be – but Aitor Karanka says they must keep improving if they are to stay there.

“But we have won this time because we have the quality, because we have experience; we have experienced players on the pitch and, in the end, that helped us to collect the three points”. “They’ve lost Antonio this season, but now they are more organised“.

The Uruguayan took his tally for the club to seven goals in midweek when netting two against Brentford, and early signs show he is more than capable of filling the void left by last season’s Sky Bet Championship Player of the Year, Patrick Bamford.

This could be a game where both sides cancel each other out, as Forest’s threat on the counter may force Boro to be more tentative in their approach to the match, albeit with the ball largely remaining on the floor.