Nottingham Forest plays a friendly match against Elche on Friday night as part of their preseason preparations.
Prior to their match at the Pinatar Arena Football Center in July, both the Premier League and La Liga teams have so far enjoyed winning streaks during their respective schedules.
Nuno Espirito Santo will be optimistic about putting Forest in a situation where they can start the new Premier League season next month, especially as he has the entire preseason at his disposal.
They have won their first three games, therefore they are currently well on their way to reaching that level of consistency and conditioning.
Following a 3-0 triumph at Chesterfield, Forest traveled to Spain where, on July 19, they defeated Sunderland 1–1, securing a thrilling tie.
Four days later, the East Midlands team defeated Millwall 2-1 thanks to goals from Chris Wood and Callum Hudson-Odoi. The match had to be rescheduled because of the intense heat in Murcia.
Though it’s not ideal to play another game three days after that encounter, Nuno will be hoping that the trip will help his team moving forward.
Elche defeated Al-Ittihad, one of the biggest teams in the Saudi Pro League, 2-0 to kick off the preseason in style.
That was succeeded by a 3-0 victory at CF Intercity, where their cause was aided by a farewell for their rivals; still, Sebastian Beccacece would have considered the match as helpful in creating momentum.
Elche needs it following a heartbreakingly poor 2023–24 campaign in which they placed 11th in the Spanish football league, their best result since being demoted from La Liga.
Before they host Huesca on August 18 to kick off their league season, they have games against Castellon and Al-Ettifaq scheduled.
Elliot Anderson, a midfielder for Forest, is expected to be out due to a knock he received late in the first half against Millwall.
That time, Hudson-Odoi took his place, although Anthony Elanga is also a candidate for a start because two teams are chosen for every 45 minutes.
Edgar Badia, the Elche goalkeeper who may start this match, took Miguel San Roman’s spot in goal at the halfway point against CF Intercity.
Similar to Forest, Beccacece made significant changes at halftime. It is unknown, though, if he would go with the same starting lineups or vary things up.
Several potential starting lineups include the following: Roman; Bigas, Plano, Mourad, Salinas, Febas, Nunez, Josan, Barzic, Rodri, and Houary
Possible starting lineup for Nottingham Forest: Turner; Gibbs-White, Wood, Hudson-Odoi; Sangare, Danilo, Domínguez; Moreira, Boly, Murillo, Toffolo
