Nottingham Forest v Tottenham prediction: De Zerbi's Spurs still searching for a goal

There is a version of this fixture where Tottenham arrive at the City Ground as the team with European pedigree and a squad full of internationals, and Nottingham Forest are just happy to be there.

That is not the version being played out in September 2026.

Instead, Forest travel into this one under a new head coach in S. Dyche still finding his feet, but Tottenham turn up having failed to find the net at all this season, a genuinely startling stat for a club with the resources Spurs carry.

T. Frank took the Tottenham job in the spring and this is his first full season in interim - sorry, permanent - form.

It has started about as badly as it could.

Nottingham Forest go into this one still getting used to life under S. Dyche, who replaced S. Dyche over the summer after the Portuguese left by mutual agreement in July.

Glasner's first two league games have brought one point: a battling 2-2 draw away at Liverpool in which Forest twice took the lead, first through Dan Ndoye and then a Morgan Gibbs-White penalty, before a 0-1 home defeat to Leeds in the opening round.

That Anfield point will have done plenty for the mood around the City Ground, even if the underlying numbers are a mixed bag.

Forest are averaging exactly a goal a game so far this season but have shipped 1.5 per game too, and an expected-goals split of 1.48 for against 1.11 against suggests the underlying picture is roughly balanced rather than one-sided in either direction.

What should concern Glasner more is the home form specifically: Forest's only game at the City Ground so far brought a goalless afternoon and a defeat to Leeds, hardly the platform a new manager wants heading into a game against a struggling but still talented Spurs side.

For Tottenham, the story so far this season is one of genuine alarm.

De Zerbi's side have lost both league games played, 3-0 away at Brentford and 0-2 at home to Newcastle, and have not scored a single goal in either match.

That is zero points and zero goals from two matches for a club that spent last season winning the Europa League, and it is precisely the kind of start that turns a promising managerial appointment into an uncomfortable one, fast.

Spurs are still dominating the ball, averaging 59% possession and 13 shots a game, but an average of just 0.84 expected goals for tells its own story: plenty of the ball, precious little penetration.

At the other end, an expected-goals-against average of 2.29 is the number that should really worry the away end at the City Ground this weekend.

Neither side arrives with anything resembling momentum, though Forest at least have a positive result to point to from their draw at Anfield.

One win from two tells you Glasner's side are competitive without yet being the finished article, whereas Tottenham's two defeats without a goal scored is the kind of surface form that ought to worry a club with genuine top-half ambitions.

Spurs' underlying possession numbers suggest the process isn't a total disaster, but Premier League points are won by taking chances, and right now De Zerbi's side aren't taking any.

Two games into the new season and the early Premier League table already looks lopsided, with Manchester City, Arsenal, Hull City and Chelsea all on six points from their opening two fixtures.

Forest sit on one point from their two matches, while Tottenham prop up a chasing pack on zero, a stark position for a club with Champions League football in recent memory.

It is far too early for either side to be thinking about relegation trouble or a top-half slide in concrete terms, but a losing start compounds quickly in the Premier League, and a Tottenham defeat here would leave De Zerbi facing serious questions before September is out.

For Forest, three points would settle any early-season nerves around Glasner's appointment and offer real evidence that the performance at Anfield was the platform, not the ceiling.

This is a fixture with plenty of history between the two clubs across League and cup competition, including a City Ground meeting in the EFL Cup as recently as September 2022.

Both sides arrive with freshly appointed head coaches still shaping their sides in their own image, which makes leaning too heavily on past meetings a risky business.

Glasner's Forest and De Zerbi's Tottenham are, in effect, different propositions to the teams that have met here before, and recent history between the clubs is a weaker guide than the identical alarm both are showing in the current form guide.

If anything, the head-to-head record matters less this weekend than the fact that one of these sides has not scored all season.

The gap that jumps out from the numbers is Tottenham's expected-goals-against average of 2.29 per game against Forest's expected-goals-for average of 1.48, a mismatch that should offer Glasner's forwards genuine encouragement even before considering Spurs' defensive personnel changes.

Possession won't decide this one either way. Tottenham's 59% average this season compares with Forest's 43.5%, but De Zerbi's side have precisely nothing to show for their share of the ball so far.

Corners tell a similar story: Spurs average six corners for but concede seven, evidence of a side under sustained pressure despite dominating territory, while Forest's more modest corner numbers (four for, 2.5 against) suggest a side that picks its moments rather than one that dominates for long stretches.

Glasner is still bedding in his own ideas at the City Ground and has shown a willingness to rotate personnel through the opening rounds, while De Zerbi will be desperate for movement and craft in the final third after two blank performances.

Nottingham Forest: Benda; Bindon, Diomande, Netz; Hanks, Schlager, McDonnell; Blake, Delap, Sillah; Da Silva Moreira

Tottenham: Kinsky; Porro, Danso, Van de Ven, Udogie; Bissouma, Bergvall; Kudus, Maddison, Sarr; Solanke

Kick-off at the City Ground is 3pm BST on Saturday 5 September 2026. This fixture falls inside the UK's Saturday 3pm blackout, so it is not being shown live on TV or streaming anywhere in the UK. Highlights will be available on Match of the Day later that evening, and you can follow all the action as it happens on our live blog.

The clearest angle on this card is Tottenham's complete inability to score so far this season, which points firmly towards goals coming from the home side rather than a shootout. Forest's home struggles keep this from being a banker, but there's enough in the underlying numbers to build a case across the goals and goalscorer markets.