Brentford 2-0 Nottingham Forest 

Milenkovic OG 30'

Thiago 76'

Forest have lost their last 5 matches played on Halloween, dating back to 1992/93. Were they in for another spooky afternoon or would they finally break the curse?

Forest are winless in their last 4, but they did end their losing streak last match week, taking a point away from Portman Road. Results wise, the Reds worryingly find themselves in the relegation zone, with just 6 points, scoring the same number of goals (the least in the league this campaign). Performance wise, things are looking bright; Glasner’s system is clear to see, but his side just aren’t putting the ball in the net and are conceding poor goals at the other end. Things were similar last season too as Forest have only won 5 of their last 23 games. In a bid to relieve some pressure off himself and his team, Glasner named one change from his side’s draw to Ipswich. Ola Aina replaced Munoz who missed week due to a small niggle. Neco Williams kept his place despite going off last week with a serious looking arm injury.

As for the hosts, they are also winless in 4 across all competitions after bowing out of the Carabao Cup in midweek to Sunderland, conceding 8 goals in that run. The Bees last Premier League outing also saw them take away a point, but theirs came from Hull City. Keith Andrews bought in Janelt as he returned from suspension, replacing Aaron Hickey.

Brentford would be happy to be back at home after 3 away games in their last 4. The Bees have lost just 1 of their last 9 league matches at the Gtech. On the other hand, Forest would be glad to be on the road. Their one victory this season came away at Villa Park and all of their goals have been scored away from the City Ground; this is a common trend for the Reds as only 23% of their Premier League goals in 2026 have come at home. The visitors also take the history on this one; Forest have won 3 of the last 4 meetings between the sides and have scored in each of their last 8 visits to Brentford.

The opening 25 minutes were scrappy and no side took any real control. The best chance so far fell to McAtee which he should’ve done better with. Just inside the hosts’ half, Cunha took a quick throw in to McAtee down the right. He drove forward and cut inside into the box as the Brentford players gave him so much space. In a good position and with the room to shoot, he looked to place it into the bottom left corner but instead it bounced narrowly wide.

After they probably should’ve gone ahead, it was typical Forest fashion to find themselves behind in such a poor manner. Kelleher played a long diagonal ball out to Ouattara which the winger had so much space to run onto as Murillo was still getting back after just watching the ball go over his head. Ouattara broke to the byline and looked to break into the box but Murillo had got back to defend him off. Instead, he didn’t. The Brazilian just stuck out a leg, allowing Ouattara to skip past him and into the area. As Williams came sliding, the Burkinabe pulled the ball into the 6 yard box where teammate, Igor Thiago was waiting. Milenkovic knew the danger behind him and stuck out a foot, hoping to turn it behind for a corner but instead it looped into his own net. Brentford have now scored in all 11 of their matches this season and are the only team to score in all 9 topflight games so far. Forest fans will look at Milenkovic after his mistake last week and the own goal on Saturday but he’s a scapegoat for this goal. Murillo makes 2 huge mistakes in the space of 10 seconds whilst Williams offers no supporting jogging back. I think that it’s time Murillo is placed on the bench to realise he can’t keep being so sloppy and that his place is under threat.

Forest haven’t won when going behind so far this season and things nearly got worse for them with 5 minutes of the half remaining. Janelt looked to whip a free kick from the edge of the box into the top left corner. Unfortunately for him, it crashed off the crossbar.

With a complete lack of quality from his side in that first half, Glasner turned to his bench. Schlager was having a poor game, not really up to speed with it on the afternoon, so he was replaced by Yates. I find it confusing why he would go to Yates before Sangare and it feels like a bit of desperation from Glasner. Although Aina was one of the better players in the first half, he was replaced by Munoz in an attempt to deliver more balls into the box to create more opportunities.

Forest turned up the tempo, pushing for an equaliser and they should’ve had one through substitute Yates. Gibbs-White received the ball on the right as he and Ndoye switched sides at half time. He skipped past the challenge of Janelt, to create an angle to deliver in a delightful ball. Yates was waiting in the box, unmarked, but his header could only be flicked agonisingly over the bar.

Despite controlling the half, the Reds found themselves with even more work to do to get themselves back into the game. On the counter, the ball was fizzed into Hickey in the middle of the park and he took a lovely touch before spraying out an even better pass for Jaiden Anthony to run onto down the right. Neither Murillo or Williams came out to meet him so he was allowed to break into the box before rolling it across to Thiago. He took the finish first time from around 10 yards. To make his day even worse, the effort deflected off Milenkovic, meaning Sels had no chance as it looped in over him. When you can’t take your chances, you need to be tight at the back in order to pick up any points. Instead, we are giving away cheap goals through such poor defending.

Although they needed a goal, Forest looked like they had no urgency or effort to even try and get themselves into the game. They were just passing it around comfortable side to side, seemingly giving up. The game ended 2-0 to the hosts. Things don’t get better for the Reds as they host Man City next weekend whilst Brentford visit the AMEX.

To have 15 shots with just 1 on target is unacceptable. Which Oliver Glasner agreed with in his fiery post-match press conference. He stated that he made too many compromises but this stops now and the players have to buy in to what he is doing or they can leave. He also exclaimed that if nothing changes a sixth manager will come in. It’s refreshing to see a manager speak out like that and really speak for the fans. The system is clearly working which both the stats and performances are showing; the players on the pitch just aren’t taking ownership, especially the big names like Murillo and Gibbs-White. Gibbs-White really frustrated me, nodding to the boos at full time, like he agrees and is entitled, when he is a part of the problem. The attitude in that second half was not one to see when you put on a Forest shirt and I’m glad Glasner has come out and called them out in a professional way and I hope this sparks a reaction within them and they can turn this around.

Brentford: Kelleher; Lewis-Potter, van den Berg, Ajer, Kayode; Janelt, Sangare (Damsgaard 62'); Schade (Wilson 84'), Jensen (Hickey 62'), Ouattara (Anthony 72'); Thiago

Forest: Sels; Murillo, Milenkovic, Jair Cunha; Williams, Schlager (Yates 46'), McAtee, Aina (Munoz 46'); Gibbs-White, Ndoye (Kalimuendo 65'); Delap (Wood 65')