Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United LIVE commentary: Relegation rivals bid for first Premier League win – kick-off time, team news and talkSPORT coverage

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Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United will renew their rivalry in the Premier League tonight, live on talkSPORT.

Both sides are bidding to pick up their first points of the season, with Forest losing 2-1 to Arsenal while the Blades were beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace.

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The upcoming top-flight clash marks the first meeting between the two teams since Forest edged out United on penalties in the Championship play-off semi-final in 2022.

Steve Cooper’s men will be itching to get off the mark to avoid falling into another relegation battle this time around.

As for Paul Heckingbottom’s outfit, they failed to register a single shot on target in their defeat at home to Crystal Palace.

Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United: talkSPORT coverage

This Premier League clash will take place on Friday, August 18.

Kick-off at the City Ground will take place at 7:45pm.

The game will NOT be shown on UK TV but talkSPORT will have live and exclusive coverage presented by Hugh Woozencroft.

Jim Proudfoot and former Nottingham Forest defender Stuart Pearce will then provide commentary.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

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Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United: Team news

Nottingham Forest XI: Turner, McKenna, Worrall, Boly, Mangala, Gibbs-White, Williams, Aurier, Danilo, Johnson, Awoniyi.

Subs: Horvath, Kouyate, Wood, Toffolo, Niakhate, Elanga, Yates, Freuler, Ui-Jo.

Sheffield United XI: Foderingham, Osborn, Ahmedhodzic, Egan, Robinson, Lowe, Norwood, Vini Souza, Hamer, Traore, Osula.

Subs: A. Davies, Trusty, Basham, T. Davies, Larouci, Marsh, Brooks, Seriki, Hackford.

Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United: What has been said?

Forest boss Cooper on the Blades, who they beat in the play-offs in the 2021-22 Championship season: “They were big games and really tight affairs.

“Fair play to them for bouncing back from that with automatic promotion. We know how hard that is and they deserve a lot of credit.

“They come up with momentum and have a core that have been there a while.

“Every Premier League team is full of strengths so we will be ready for that.”

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Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United: Match facts

• Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom has won both of his away games against Nottingham Forest in all competitions, winning 1-0 with Barnsley in January 2017 (Championship), and 2-1 with the Blades in May 2022 (play-offs). Only at Birmingham City (3) and Cardiff City (3) has he won more away games in his managerial career.
• Despite only coming on for the final 10 minutes of their defeat against Arsenal, Anthony Elanga created more chances than any other player for Nottingham Forest (2). Indeed, three of Forest’s six shots in the match came following Elanga’s introduction.
• Taiwo Awoniyi has scored in each of his last five Premier League games, coming off the bench to net against Arsenal in on MD1. The only Nottingham Forest player to score in six in a row in the competition is Stan Collymore, doing so in March/April 1995.
• Only Burnley (0.3) posted a lower expected goals total on MD1 than Sheffield United (0.5) in the Premier League this season, while Nottingham Forest were one of three teams (along with Everton and Wolves) to post a higher xG than their opponents but still lose the match (1.2 – 0.8).
• Following their last promotion to the Premier League in 2019, Sheffield United were unbeaten in their first nine away games, picking up 15 points (W3 D6). Since then, they’ve taken just 13 points from their 29 top-flight games on the road (W3 D4 L22).
• Sheffield United had fewer draws than any other side in the Championship last season (7). On top of this, none of the Blades’ last 25 games in the Premier League have ended level (W7 L18), the longest ongoing run of any side.
• Sheffield United have won their first away league game in just one of the last 17 seasons (D5 L11) and are winless in their last 11 since beating Oldham 2-0 in 2011-12.
• Nottingham Forest won their last three Premier League home games in the 2022-23 campaign. They’ve not won four in a row at the City Ground as a top-flight side since January 1996.
• Nottingham Forest have lost just one of their last 13 home league games against Sheffield United (W7 D5, all in the second tier), going down 1-0 in December 2008.
• This is the first Premier League meeting between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United since May 1993, when the Blades’ 2-0 win at the City Ground confirmed Forest as the first side to be relegated from the competition.

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