Nottingham Forest and Brentford will meet for just the sixth time in the top flight when the two go head-to-head at the City Ground in the Premier League on Thursday night.
Despite the lack of recent top-flight experience for both clubs, they are both in the mix for European football, following impressive respective seasons from the two.
Forest come into the encounter on the back of FA Cup semi-final heartache at Wembley on Sunday, losing 2-0 to Manchester City, while Brentford have gone almost two weeks without a fixture since beating Brighton & Hove Albion 4-2 at the Gtech.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two sides.
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Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 40
Nott’m Forest wins: 14
Draws: 11
Brentford wins: 15
Forest and Brentford were regulars in the second tier during the mid-1930s and shortly after World War Two, but they did not share the same division for half a century, until the Tricky Trees dropped into League One in 2005.
The 2006-07 season saw Forest complete a league double over Brentford, including a 4-2 win at Griffin Park late in the campaign that all but relegated the Bees, while also securing a playoff place for themselves.
Forest were thrashed at home by Yeovil Town in that playoff, but it was not long before they returned to the Championship, and they were joined there in 2014 by Brentford, before the two spent seven seasons together at that level.
Despite their much smaller standing in the game, it was Brentford who won promotion first, taking four points off Forest in the 2020-21 campaign on their way to finishing third, before earning a place in the Premier League thanks to playoff success.
Forest joined them a year later via the same route, and in their first-ever top-flight meeting in November 2022, a Zanka own goal on 96 minutes salvaged a very late point for Steve Cooper‘s men at the City Ground.
Brentford made up for throwing those two points away by beating Forest in the meeting at the Gtech later that season, coming from behind themselves to win 2-1 thanks to late goals from Ivan Toney and Josh Dasilva.
The following season saw a repeat of those results, with the two sharing the spoils at the City Ground in an encounter where Brentford failed to take advantage of a red card to Moussa Niakhate, only drawing 1-1.
Thomas Frank‘s side were successful on home soil again though, beating Forest 3-2 at the Gtech, with Neal Maupay popping up with the winner in a topsy-turvy encounter.
Forest finally got their first-ever top-flight victory over the Bees in December 2024 though, as goals from Ola Aina and Anthony Elanga sealed a 2-0 win for Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side, ending Brentford’s incredible start at home that season, where they had taken 22 points from a possible 24.
Last 20 meetings
Dec 21, 2024: Brentford 0-2 Nott’m Forest (Premier League)
Jan 20, 2024: Brentford 3-2 Nott’m Forest (Premier League)
Oct 01, 2023: Nott’m Forest 1-1 Brentford (Premier League)
Apr 29, 2023: Brentford 2-1 Nott’m Forest (Premier League)
Nov 05, 2022: Nott’m Forest 2-2 Brentford (Premier League)
Mar 20, 2021: Brentford 1-1 Nott’m Forest (Championship)
Dec 12, 2020: Nott’m Forest 1-3 Brentford (Championship)
Jan 28, 2020: Brentford 0-1 Nott’m Forest (Championship)
Oct 05, 2019: Nott’m Forest 1-0 Brentford (Championship)
Feb 09, 2019: Nott’m Forest 2-1 Brentford (Championship)
Sep 01, 2018: Brentford 2-1 Nott’m Forest (Championship)
Apr 10, 2018: Nott’m Forest 0-1 Brentford (Championship)
Aug 12, 2017: Brentford 3-4 Nott’m Forest (Championship)
Mar 07, 2017: Nott’m Forest 2-3 Brentford (Championship)
Aug 16, 2016: Brentford 1-0 Nott’m Forest (Championship)
Apr 02, 2016: Nott’m Forest 0-3 Brentford (Championship)
Nov 21, 2015: Brentford 2-1 Nott’m Forest (Championship)
Apr 06, 2015: Brentford 2-2 Nott’m Forest (Championship)
Nov 05, 2014: Nott’m Forest 1-3 Brentford (Championship)
Apr 14, 2007: Brentford 2-4 Nott’m Forest (League One)
Previous Premier League meetings
Dec 21, 2024: Brentford 0-2 Nott’m Forest (Premier League)
Jan 20, 2024: Brentford 3-2 Nott’m Forest (Premier League)
Oct 01, 2023: Nott’m Forest 1-1 Brentford (Premier League)
Apr 29, 2023: Brentford 2-1 Nott’m Forest (Premier League)
Nov 05, 2022: Nott’m Forest 2-2 Brentford (Premier League)
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