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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Sarah Clapson

Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper names his team to face Bournemouth for crunch clash

Head coach Steve Cooper once again names an unchanged starting XI for Nottingham Forest's crunch clash with Bournemouth.

It is the Reds’ biggest game for more than two decades, with automatic promotion tantalisingly close. Anything other than a defeat would see Cooper’s side take the fight for second spot down to the final game.

Victory for the Cherries would be enough to send them up to the Premier League. But a win for the visitors would see them leapfrog their opponents on goal difference, with one more match to play.

Read more: Follow the action LIVE as Forest face Bournemouth

Read more: Riverside views and St Andrew's sadness mark out best and worst Forest away days

Forest go into the rearranged showdown at the Vitality Stadium in third spot, three points below their hosts. And they were given an emotional send-off when they left the Nigel Doughty Academy yesterday.

A Sam Surridge hat-trick saw them thrash Swansea City 5-1 at the weekend to make it four straight wins. Cooper sticks with the side which started that match at the City Ground for this evening’s encounter on the south coast.

It means Steve Cook faces the club he left in January for the first time, having spent a decade on Bournemouth’s books. He lines up alongside Joe Worrall and Scott McKenna in a back-three ahead of goalkeeper Brice Samba.

Djed Spence and Jack Colback keep their places at right and left wing-back, with James Garner and Ryan Yates in the centre of the pitch. Like Cook, it is also a return to Bournemouth for Surridge, who will be supported by Philip Zinckernagel and Brennan Johnson in attack.

Xande Silva had been left out of the matchday squad on Saturday due to illness, but he returns to the bench tonight. Also among the substitutes are Ethan Horvath, Richie Laryea, Alex Mighten, Cafu, Joe Lolley and Tobias Figueiredo.

Forest: Samba; Worrall, Cook, McKenna; Spence, Yates, Garner, Colback; Zinckernagel; Johnson, Surridge. Subs: Horvath, Laryea, Mighten, Cafu, Silva, Lolley, Figueiredo.

What do you make of the Forest team? Have your say in the comments below

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