Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers go meet for pre-season friendly for Estadio de Nora for Albufeira, Portugal on Wednesday morning. Na first time di two teams go face each other since December 2022, when di Tricky Trees win 4-1 for Ewood Park for EFL Cup fourth round.
Forest dey prepare for life under fifth different manager in less dan 12 months. Oliver Glasner na di latest name to take di reins, afta Vitor Pereira bin leave earlier dis month. Pereira win eight of im 20 games for Forest and help di club escape Premier League relegation zone, finish 16th. But di Tricky Trees decide to exercise mutual break clause for di Portuguese contract, end im brief 137-day spell for di City Ground.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis believe say e clear say im and new boss Glasner share di same vision. Di Austrian don express im desire to create winning environment for di club afta e lift three trophies during im time for Crystal Palace. Just over seven weeks afta winning Conference League wit di Eagles, Glasner steer Forest to dia first victory under im tutelage last Saturday, as di Tricky Trees kick-start dia pre-season preparations wit 2-0 away win over rivals Notts County.
Forest don since arrive for Portugal for warm-weather training camp where dem go face Blackburn, Vitoria de Guimaraes and Sporting Lisbon. A trip to Italy to take on Udinese and Barcelona go follow, before dem go return to di City Ground to conclude pre-season wit games against Bayer Leverkusen and Brest.
Blackburn Rovers dey gear up for dia eighth consecutive campaign as Championship club afta dem narrowly avoid relegation to finish 20th for di table last season, five points above di bottom three. Across 46 league games, 13 wins, 13 draws and 20 defeats dem post. Rovers don part ways wit Michael O’Neill and don welcome back head coach Tony Mowbray, just over four years afta im first spell for di helm.
Afta signing 10 players last summer, Blackburn only incoming for di current transfer window na midfielder Moussa Baradji, wey im loan deal don become permanent. While Mowbray don confirm talks wit di hierarchy over squad improvements, e dey focus on trying to sprinkle some magic dust on im current group of players ahead of di new season.
Blackburn don make unbeaten start to pre-season: a goalless stalemate wit Accrington Stanley, followed by 3-0 victory and positive performance against Barnsley for behind-closed-doors friendly on Sunday. Rovers don since travel to Portugal for training camp including friendlies against both Forest and Strasbourg. Dem go then return to England for dia final pre-season match against Huddersfield Town on August 1, before dem begin di 2026-27 campaign away to Burton Albion for EFL Cup first round a week later.
Nottingham Forest duo Chris Wood and Ibrahim Sangare go re-join di senior squad for dia training camp for Portugal and fit be involved on Wednesday, while Callum Hudson-Odoi dey set to be partly integrated for team training afta e step up im recovery from injury. However, centre-back Murillo and full-back Nicolo Savona still need a little bit of time to recover from respective hamstring and knee injuries, and dem dey therefore set to miss di clash wit Blackburn.
Arnaud Kalimuendo, wey spend di second half of last season on loan for Eintracht Frankfurt, and Igor Jesus both bin dey for di scoresheet against Notts County and dem dey for contention to play for some capacity against Rovers. Star midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White fit also be involved.
As for Blackburn, several first-team stars dem miss di draw wit Accrington due to illness, but players including Adam Forshaw, Harry Pickering, Ryan Alebiosu, Tom Atcheson, Matty Litherland and Axel Henriksson all get 45 minutes under dia belt against Barnsley and fit feature again against Forest. However, Scott Wharton dey deal wit minor thigh strain and no dey expected to be involved, while right-back Lewis Miller still dey recover from long-term Achilles tendon injury.
Yuki Ohashi score team-high 10 goals last season and dey available for selection along wit di likes of Todd Cantwell, Andri Gudjohnsen and Ryoya Morishita.
Both Nottingham Forest and Blackburn go enter dis contest for high spirits, having make bright start to dia respective pre-season campaign. However, if Glasner select another strong starting lineup, di Premier League outfit superior overall quality go ultimately shine through to see dem edge past dia Championship counterparts.
