Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United. Sky Bet Championship.
The City GroundAttendance29,530.
Watch live on Sky Sports Football on New Year's Day from 2.55pm.
Tuesday 1 January 2019 13:53, UK
Nottingham Forest will check on the fitness of Tobias Figueiredo ahead of their home clash with Sky Bet Championship leaders Leeds.
The defender suffered a dead leg against QPR on December 22 and has missed the two games at Norwich and Millwall.
Reds boss Aitor Karanka, whose position is reportedly under scrutiny after five matches without a win, could recall 15-goal top scorer Lewis Grabban. The striker was replaced in the starting line-up on Saturday by Daryl Murphy, with Karanka seemingly having one eye on the visit of Leeds.
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa is thinking about making changes at the City Ground. Bielsa fielded an unchanged line-up against Hull but, after a surprise 2-0 home defeat, the likes of Lewis Baker and Leif Davis could come into his thinking.
Tyler Roberts is another option after the forward made his return from injury as a substitute on Saturday. Patrick Bamford and Liam Cooper are not yet ready to make their comebacks from knee problems.
Nottingham Forest are winless in their last four Championship matches against Leeds (D2 L2) since a 3-1 win in August 2016.
Leeds, 2-0 winners at the City Ground last season, haven't won back-to-back league visits to Nottingham Forest since August 1969 (three straight wins).
Nottingham Forest's Aitor Karanka has only won one of his seven league games as a manager against Leeds United (D3 L3), a 3-0 victory over Uwe Rosler's Leeds team when in charge of Middlesbrough in September 2015.
This is Leeds' first away league match on New Year's Day for 22 years - since losing 0-3 at Newcastle United in the Premier League in 1997.
Nottingham Forest striker Lewis Grabban has scored four goals in his last five league starts against Leeds United.
Leeds have had a player red carded in four of their last six January matches in all competitions - against Sutton United (Liam Cooper), Newport County (Samuel Saiz), Ipswich Town (Eunan O'Kane) and Millwall (Cooper again).
It's five without a win now for Nottingham Forest and the pressure will be starting to build on Aitor Karanka. They have certainly improved since he has arrived but with the money spent in the summer it was clear that top six was the aim.
Leeds looked like they had run out of a bit of steam against Hull on Saturday, but they had won seven in a row before that game so they need not dwell on an off day for too long. This, however, is a draw for me.
David Prutton predicts: 1-1 (5/1 with Sky Bet)
