Sheffield United vs. Nottingham Forest Predictions: Two stats-based bets for Friday Night clash

Sheffield United’s assault on the playoff spots was halted in their last match, as Millwall earned a hard fought 1-0 victory last weekend. Prior to that defeat, the Blades’ had gone 8 matches without defeat; winning 5 of those matches. That stellar run of form saw them climb within reach of the top 6 and they will be looking to earn their way into those places in the remaining 13 matches of the season.

Nottingham Forest have put together a good run of their own in recent weeks under Steve Cooper. Forest have lost just 1 of their last 10 matches in all competitions and this includes victories over Arsenal and Leicester that have seen them progress to the latter stages of the FA Cup. This solid run of form has Cooper’s men harbouring promotion ambitions of their own, with the team currently sitting in 9th and 3 points behind 6th place Luton.

The meeting between these sides earlier in the season ended in a 1-1 draw, where both of the goals came fairly late on. Cooper was in the dugout that day for Forest, but Heckingbottom has since replaced Jokanovic in the Sheffield one.

Although Forest come into this game on a good run of form, Sheffield United have been formidable at home for a couple of months. The Blades’ haven’t conceded a goal at Bramall Lane since Blackpool recorded a 1-0 victory there at the end of October. This means that United are yet to concede a goal at home since Heckingbottom took the reins.

Sheffield have won 4 of their 5 home games in 2022, scoring 11 goals in those matches and crucially, as previously mentioned, they have not conceded. All of this points towards the fact that the Blades will be solid defensively , but we won’t back a clean sheet as our main bet because a moment of madness or magic would see us come undone. Sheffield will also be more than keen to get back on track and put together another unbeaten run following the disappointment at Millwall.

Forest are averaging just 0.8 goals per game in their last 5 away matches and they could struggle to pose a threat coming up against the stern Sheffield United defence. The Blades’ incredible run of home clean sheets they are averaging just 0.4 goals against in their last 10 home matches, so I’m happy to back against Forest goals in the longer odds bet.

Sheffield United have had more corners than their opponents in all of their last 5 home matches; they average 7 corners to their opponents 2.6 in those matches. Forest have had less corners than their opponents in 3 of their last 5 away matches. Over the course of those 5 away matches, Forest are averaging 4.8 corners to their opponents 6.4.