Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth: Prediction, Tips and Odds

Nottingham Forest begin their new Premier League campaign at home to a Bournemouth side they have failed to beat in their last eight meetings.

Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth betting tips and predictions

Draw - 5/2

Fans of both Forest and Bournemouth have got reasons to be cheerful heading into 2024/25, though all of them may have to be happy with a point from their season-opener.

Forest come into the new season bullish after a decent summer which climaxed with a thrilling 4-3 win against Olympiakos.

Nuno Espirito Santo has had a full pre-season and been able to hold on to key players like defender Murillo and the creative Morgan Gibbs-White.

He has also improved the group with the additions of players like Serbian centre-back Nikola Milenkovic and Newcastle midfielder Elliot Anderson.

Callum Hudson-Odoi finished last season on fire and there is an air that Forest will be finishing considerably higher than 17th this season.

Bournemouth came home in 12th last season and have enjoyed a fabulous summer featuring a draw against Arsenal and wins over Rayo Vallecano and Girona.

The bombshell was last week's sale of top scorer Dominic Solanke to Tottenham, even more painful with understudy Enes Unal injured, hence the move to bring in Brazilian Evanilson from Porto for £40m.

It means the impressive Andoni Iraola probably has more work to do on the training pitch than Nuno, who did most of his transfer business early and that maybe means the Cherries are slightly behind their opponents.

But Bournemouth also boast an excellent record against Forest and finished last term in tremendous form under a coach who arguably should have won the manager of the year honours that went to Pep Guardiola.

Luis Sinisterra anytime scorer - 3/1

Iraola played Philip Billing up front against Girona last week in their first game minus Solanke and the big Dane was a handful in a 3-2 win.

If the Cherries' chief repeats that ploy at the City Ground then the giant Dane would look attractive at 15/4 in the anytime scorer market or 10/1 as first scorer.

However, Daniel Jebbison and Antoine Semenyo were also given spells up front in the same game so Iraola's thinking isn't entirely clear.

What was clear was that Luis Sinisterra - who did score - was a major threat in and around the box and could well be an option at 3/1 to score in a fixture that looks like it will have a few goals.

The former Leeds star recovered from a hamstring injury which sabotaged his end of last term to help Colombia reach the final of the Copa America. Sinisterra once scored 12 in a league season for Feyenoord and his performance against Girona will have probably booked him a start in Iraola's front four in Nottingham.

Ibrahim Sangare to be booked - 3/1

A hip injury, a knee problem and time away at the Africa Cup of Nations limited Ibrahim Sangare to just 17 appearances and 13 starts in the Premier League last season - and he still managed to collect six yellow cards.

The Ivory Coast anchorman will do plenty of hard graft at the base of Nuno's midfield and that will mean putting his foot in and breaking up play when necessary. 

Bournemouth will go to the City Ground to play and in what should be a competitive start to the season, Sangare looks a good bet at 3/1 to have his name taken.

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Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth odds

Nottingham Forest - 29/20
Draw - 5/2
Bournemouth - 9/5

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.