THE CITY GROUND, NOTTINGHAM — Tottenham Hotspur are looking to continue an impressive start to the new season on Sunday afternoon, when Antonio Conte’s side travel to newly-promoted Nottingham Forest.
Spurs have opened the new campaign with seven points from their opening three games, with home wins over Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers sandwiching a hot-tempered draw against rivals Chelsea.
Forest will present a difficult test, though, with the cauldron-like atmosphere here earlier this month helping the side to a 1-0 win over West Ham United. Steve Cooper’s men also remained unbeaten across their last 11 home league games of last term.
The Sporting News is following Nottingham Forest vs. Tottenham Hotspur live from the East Midlands, with score updates and commentary below.
Nottingham Forest vs. Tottenham live score
| 1H | 2H | Final | |
| Nottingham Forest | 0 | — | — |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 1 | — | — |
MORE: Updated Premier League top-scorer standings
Nottingham Forest vs. Tottenham live updates
16th min: The game has settled into a rhythm: Conte is comfortable allowing Forest to have the ball here. The hosts have spent a good amount of time in the Spurs half and look mildly threatening at times, but Kulusevski and co. are lethal on the counter. Every time they pick Forest off in the middle third, they move the play forward extremely quickly and look like they could rack up a hatful of goals. The latest effort is from Son, who curls one narrowly over.
6th min: GOAL! That good start didn’t last long. Kulusevski collects the ball on the halfway line and while he runs through the middle, Kane takes up the Swede’s spot on the right side of the box. Kulusevski plays the ball to the No.9, who makes no mistake with his effort across goal. Spurs are 1-0 up.
5th min: The City Ground is even louder than it was for the West Ham game, and the players are seemingly feeling it. Forest start in the ascendancy, surging forward with purpose on several occasions. Gibbs-White has a whole lot of pressure on his shoulders, but he looks sharp, breaking through the heart of the Spurs’ back-line with a great dribble, but Jesse Lingard can’t capitalise.
KICK-OFF: We’re underway in the final game of matchday four.
10 mins to KO: Since Forest were relegated from the Premier League 23 years ago, these teams have met three times in cup competitions. In the 2004/05 FA Cup, the Reds held Spurs to a 1-1 draw before losing 3-0 in the replay. Nine years later, the London giants eased to a 3-1 victory in the EFL Cup.
Their last league meeting saw Spurs collect three points here in 1998/99, which had followed a run of seven straight visits to the City Ground without a win.
20 mins to KO: Whatever happens today, Forest’s squad will again almost certainly look different for the next home game. According to several reports, Renan Lodi of Atletico Madrid is closing in on a loan switch to the East Midlands, with an option to make to make the deal permanent next summer.
40 mins to KO: This Forest’s first game back in the big time against one of the giants, and the danger-men they’ll of course be wary of are the attacking trident of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski. Since the January transfer window closed, there has been nobody better: Son leads the Premier League goal charts with 15 and Kane is in second on 14, while Kulusevski has a division-high nine assists.
1 hour to KO: Team news is in. Orel Mangala misses out on the Forest squad altogether through injury, while new signing Remo Freuler only makes the bench. Gibbs-White, meanwhile, makes his full debut for the Reds.
✌️ Two changes from last weekend
🤩 City Ground debut for @Morgangibbs27
✊ @RyanYates97 comes in to startSteve Cooper names his side to face @SpursOfficial this afternoon 👊 pic.twitter.com/zYXd7mWeBa
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) August 28, 2022
For Spurs, Yves Bissouma is still missing from the starting line-up, with Conte sticking by Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in central midfield. Spence – who has been taking plenty of photos with Forest fans and meeting old friends – is on the bench as expected.
Here’s how we line-up for this afternoon’s game against @NFFC! 👇 pic.twitter.com/9S0K6fvOYW
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 28, 2022
1 hour 20 mins to KO: One familiar face to Forest fans who likely won’t see the field today is Djed Spence. The full-back was instrumental in last season’s promotion push while on loan from Middlesbrough, and this summer made a permanent transfer to Spurs.
However, Spence is yet to lock down a space in Conte’s team. The Italian told his pre-match press conference: “The difference is clear. To play in the Championship with Nottingham Forest and then with Tottenham, he needs time to adapt himself in many aspects, in the physical aspect and the tactical aspect because now he is working with another coach.
“I’m seeing a lot of desire, a lot of will from this player to try to reduce this gap and to be ready. With a young player, it’s important to have patience, to work and then to improve. I’m sure Djed for the future will be an important player for Tottenham.”
1 hour 40 mins to KO: Forest have endured a summer of wholesale change following their promotion via the EFL Championship playoffs, with 17 new players arriving.
Among them is striker Taiwo Awoniyi, who gave the Reds a 1-0 victory over West Ham in their home opener a fortnight ago. The £18.5m spent on Awoniyi has since been usurped by the transfer of Gibbs-White, whose fee could reportedly rise to as much as £42.5m.
However, manager Cooper is keen to stress the importance of the club’s youth system, alongside the big-money deals. He told the matchday programme: “I have always said that youth will be given a chance here. I know how proud everyone is of our academy and developing young, homegrown players. We expect [those given a chance in the EFL Cup in midweek] to keep working hard in order to continue earning these opportunities.”
2 hours to KO: Welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of Nottingham Forest vs. Tottenham Hotspur at the City Ground.
Bryan Gil and Lucas Moura face late fitness tests for the visitors, while Cristian Romero and Oliver Skipp are certainly out.
Morgan Gibbs-White and Jack Colback may make their returns for Forest, with Moussa Niakhate and Omar Richards absent through longer-term injuries.
How to watch Nottingham Forest vs. Tottenham
| UK | USA | Canada | Australia | |
| Date | Aug. 28 | Aug. 28 | Aug. 28 | Aug. 29 |
| Time | 16:30 BST | 11:30 ET | 11:30 ET | 01:30 AEST |
| TV channel | Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League | USA, Telemundo | – | – |
| Streaming | Sky Go, NOW TV | fuboTV | fuboTV | Optus Sport |
USA: Select matches are televised on USA Network (English) and Telemundo or Universo (Spanish), and all three channels can be streamed on fuboTV. The rest of the matches are streamed on NBC platform Peacock for subscribers.
Canada: Every Premier League game streams live and on demand exclusively via fuboTV.
Australia: Fans in Australia can stream matches live and on demand on Optus Sport.
