Nottingham Forest vs Brentford

Nottingham Forest ended a seven-game winless run on MD1 of a league season (D2 L5), picking up their first opening match win since 2017-18 v Millwall in the Championship (1-0), and first at Premier League level since 1996-97 v Coventry (3-0).

Brentford suffered their first ever MD1 defeat in the Premier League (P5 W2 D2 L1), and conceded 3+ goals in their season opener at any level for the first time since 2004-05 at Chesterfield in League One (3-1).

Timed at exactly 05:00, Chris Wood scored Nottingham Forest’s earliest ever goal on MD1 of a Premier League season. He then went on to become only the third player to score twice in the club’s opening game of a season in the competition, after Bryan Roy v Southampton in 1995-96 (2) and Kevin Campbell v Coventry in 1996-97 (3).

Nottingham Forest have won just one of their last eight league games against Brentford (D3 L4), a 2-0 away win in December last season.

Brentford have lost just two of their last 10 away league games against Nottingham Forest (W6 D2), and are unbeaten in their last four visits to the City Ground (W2 D2).

Nottingham Forest haven’t won their opening league match in any of the last seven seasons (D2 L5), since a 1-0 win against Millwall in the 2017-18 Championship campaign.

Brentford have never lost their opening game in any of their four previous Premier League campaigns (W2 D2), scoring exactly two goals in each match.

Nottingham Forest lost three of their last four Premier League home games in 2024-25 (D1), having lost two of their first 15 at the City Ground last term (W9 D4).