- 1 Nottingham Forest vs Brest: one last test before the real thing
- 2 Nottingham Forest: a rebuild still in progress
- 3 Brest: goals at one end, holes at the other
- 4 Football Prediction Nottingham Forest vs Brest
- 5 First, a quick word on our free picks
- 6 No promise from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the visuals…
Nottingham Forest vs Brest: one last test before the real thing 
One hundred and sixteen million pounds for a single player. That is what Nottingham Forest banked from the sale of Elliot Anderson to Manchester City, and it tells you everything about their summer.
Oliver Glasner hosts Brest at the City Ground on Sunday 16 August at 14h. It is the final dress rehearsal before the Premier League kicks off six days later at Leeds United.
The two clubs have never met. No history, no shared reference points — just the shape of their respective pre-seasons.
Forest come in on the back of a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen, sealed by an Arnaud Kalimuendo goal in the 90th minute. Before that, though, they had lost three straight.
Brest drew 2-2 with Venezia, with Ludovic Ajorque levelling in the 88th minute. The Bretons are now unbeaten in three.
The gap in status is obvious. Forest have rebuilt with tens of millions, while Brest finished 12th in Ligue 1 with 39 points from 34 games.
One thing, though, runs through the whole fixture. Brest have conceded at least once in each of their five pre-season games.
That recurring softness, combined with a Forest side keen to end the summer on the front foot, makes this one fairly easy to read.
Nottingham Forest: a rebuild still in progress
Forest opened pre-season with three wins and a draw from their first four games. Things were a lot shakier after that.
Three defeats in a row followed, against Sporting (1-4), Udinese and Barcelona (0-1). Two of those matches ended with Forest failing to score at all.
The 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen reset the mood. Kalimuendo settled it in the 90th minute, exactly the kind of late strike Glasner will have wanted.
The midfield has been rebuilt after Anderson’s exit. Xaver Schlager arrived on a free from RB Leipzig, while Gustavo Sa came in from Famalicao.
Ousmane Diomande, signed from Sporting this summer, is expected to line up in the back three alongside Milenkovic and Murillo. Three new arrivals dropped into the same spine do not click overnight.
Chris Wood is a doubt for Sunday, with no other reported absences in the squad. Glasner is expected to rotate heavily again, as he has done throughout the summer.
The City Ground remains Forest’s strongest asset. They have not lost there in pre-season, with the 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers and the Leverkusen result standing out.
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Brest: goals at one end, holes at the other 
Brest wrapped up Ligue 1 2025-26 in 12th place, with 39 points from 34 matches. The numbers are plain enough: 43 goals scored, 55 conceded.
That imbalance has not been fixed over the summer. The Bretons shipped seven goals across their first three friendlies and failed to win any of them.
Then came the turnaround. A 2-1 win at Stade Briochin was followed by a 2-2 draw with Venezia, making it three unbeaten heading into this trip to England.
Julien Lachuer, who replaced Eric Roy in the dugout in June 2026, has settled on a 4-2-3-1. Ludovic Ajorque, who scored eight times last season, leads the line.
Kamory Doumbia, Mama Balde and Romain Del Castillo have all found the net in the last two matches. The attack is starting to get somewhere.
At the back, the picture has not changed much: five friendlies, five games with at least one goal conceded. Gautier Lloris, Mamady Diambou and Joseph Nonge have arrived to stiffen things up.
A trip to England a week before the league starts is never going to be full throttle. But Brest have scored in four of their five summer games.
Expected Nottingham Forest line-up: Sels ; Diomande, Milenkovic, Murillo ; Aina, Schlager, Gibbs-White, Sangare, Williams ; Ndoye, Jesus
Expected Brest line-up: Coudert ; Lala, Chardonnet, Le Guen, Locko ; Chotard, Tousart ; Del Castillo, Doumbia, Balde ; Ajorque
Football Prediction Nottingham Forest vs Brest
Our prediction: both teams to score
Brest have conceded in all five of their pre-season matches, with no exceptions. That is the most consistent stat between the two squads this summer.
Forest have scored against Blackburn and Bayer Leverkusen, and they are back in front of their own fans at the City Ground. On the other side, Ajorque, Doumbia, Balde and Del Castillo have all scored in Brest’s last two outings.
Two managers who want their forwards to make a point, two defences reshaped by the transfer market, and nothing on the line to slow it down. Both teams should score.
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