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Nottingham Forest welcome Birmingham City to the City Ground on Boxing Day next week, hoping to pull further clear of the Championship relegation zone.
Neither side has truly impressed in this campaign and both are in the bottom half of the table, languishing 20th (Nottingham Forest) and 17th (Birmingham City).
The Tricky Trees, who lost the opening three games of the season, hired Chris Hughton in October, and following a slight improvement in results, slumped again.
They've now won only once in the last nine league games - a 2-0 victory against bottom side Sheffield Wednesday last week. Nottingham Forest have lost six of those nine games.
Birmingham might feel slightly encouraged by the form of their hosts, as the Blues are also on a downward spiral, losing their last three games.
Nottingham Forest vs Birmingham City Head-To-Head
In 28 meetings between the sides, Birmingham City narrowly edge ahead of Nottingham Forest with 10 victories to nine. Another nine games have ended all square.
Last season, Forest ran out 3-0 victors at home, but the Blues gained some revenge in the return with a 2-1 win.
Nottingham Forest Form Guide (all competitions): L-L-L-W-D
Birmingham City Form Guide (all competitions): W-W-L-L-L
Nottingham Forest vs Birmingham City Team News
Forest do not have any fresh injury concerns, but the midfield duo of Harry Arter and Samba Sow are just one booking away from suspension.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Birmingham City have a clean bill of health going into the match as manager Aitor Karanka has all of his players available for the Boxing Day encounter.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Nottingham Forest vs Birmingham City Predicted XI
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Brice Samba; Cyrus Christie, Loic Mbe Soh, Joe Worrall, Yuri Ribeiro; Samba Sow, Ryan Yates; Sammy Ameobi, Cafu, Alex Mighten; Lewis Grabban.
Birmingham City (4-2-3-1): Neil Etheridge; Maxime Colin, Marc Roberts, Harlee Dean, Kristian Pedersen; Adam Clayton, Mikel San Jose; Ivan Sanchez, Jon Toral, Jeremie Bela; Scott Hogan.
Nottingham Forest vs Birmingham City Prediction
Both managers are feeling the heat following a series of poor results, but Hughton is likely to be the more disappointed manager. With Forest tenure sinking deeper into the drop zone, his job is on the line if results don't urgently change.
With the pressure on Forest to secure a home victory, we expect them to earn a narrow win in this game.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 2-1 Birmingham City
