Leicester vs Nottingham Forest prediction: Honours even in Cooper derby

Leicester City take on Nottingham Forest on Friday in the East Midlands derby which has the added edge of Foxes boss Steve Cooper facing his former club (8:00pm, Sky Sports Main Event).

Cooper spent just over two years at the City Ground, taking the Forest back to the Premier League before he was sacked in December 2023, following a run of one win in 13 matches.

He was an unpopular appointment when hired by newly-promoted Leicester in June after Enzo Maresca left the club to join Chelsea but, so far, his side have acquitted themselves well with two wins, three draws and three defeats from their opening eight games, leaving them 14th in the Premier League table.

Betting sites have responded to that respectable start by easing Leicester’s odds for relegation, pushing them out from 1/3 to a best-price of 5/4.

Friday’s opponents Forest are no strangers to a relegation battle, narrowly avoiding the drop the last two seasons, but Premier League betting sites aren’t expecting another season of struggle with the Tricky Trees as big as 14/1 to fall through the trap door.

Forest sit six places and four points better off than Leicester, thanks largely to Monday’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace which was their first win in four since the shock 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield.

They also beat Southampton back in August and have only been beaten once this season, a penalty from Raul Jimenez enough to give Fulham a 1-0 win last month.

The Foxes go into the game with two wins in their last two matches, a 1-0 win over Bournemouth before an injury-time winner from Jordan Ayew helped them come from 2-0 down to beat Southampton 3-2 last weekend.

These two sides have met 107 times in all competitions, and it is the Foxes who narrowly lead the head-to-head 41-40, while 26 meetings have ended all square.

Forest go into the game unbeaten in their last six away games in the Premier League, having won four and drawn two, which is their longest run without an away defeat in the top-flight since 1995, when they went 12 games unbeaten.

They have averaged 1.36 points per away match in the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo, a huge improvement on the 0.46 under previous manager Steve Cooper and we’re backing them to keep up their good form on Friday.

Forest will get James Ward-Prowse back from suspension and there’s the potential for Morgan Gibbs-White to make his return from injury, boosting Nuno’s midfield options.

Leicester look unlikely to get any of their injured players back in time for this game and enter the fixture as underdogs on football betting sites, albeit there isn’t a great deal in it between the two teams in terms of prices.

With bookmakers struggling to split the pair, it may pay to sit on the fence for the derby and back the draw on betting apps. No side has drawn more league games than Forest in the top flight this season, while half of Leicester’s home games have ended all square.

History suggests we might be treated to a few goals on Friday. There have been at least four goals scored in all four of Leicester’s Premier League home games against Nottingham Forest – a 4-2 win for Forest in March 1995, a 2-2 draw in December 1996, and 3-1 and 4-0 wins for Leicester in December 1998 and October 2022 respectively.

Leicester vs Nottingham Forest prediction: Draw & BTTS - 7/2 Bet365

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