Porto are five points clear at the top of their domestic league and the Portuguese side have eyes on a European trophy too after setting up this last-eight Europa League clash with Nottingham Forest by beating Stuttgart 4-1 on aggregate in the last 16.
Forest have had a traumatic league campaign but Europe has offered some relief. They’re just three points clear of the relegation zone and are on their fourth manager this season.
These two met in the 36-team league phase with Forest running out 2-0 winners at the City Ground and they’ll hope current boss Vitor Pereira, a Portuguese native, will give them some extra insights into their quarter-final opponents.
Porto v Nottingham Forest kick-off time
Porto v Nottingham Forest kicks off at 8pm BST on Thursday, April 9 at the Estadio Do Dragao.
Porto v Nottingham Forest how to watch
The game will be shown live in the UK via TNT Sports 1. Coverage begins at 7pm.
TalkSPORT 2 will provide live radio coverage.
Porto team news
Strikers Samu Aghehowa and Luuk de Jong are both on the injured list. The former has 19 goals for Porto this season so will be missed.
Boss Francesco Farioli may also be without Rodrigo Mora and Nahuen Perez.
Nottingham Forest team news
Forest suffered a blow in the last round when the joy of making it through after beating Midtjylland was tempered by key midfielder Elliott Anderson picking up a yellow card which rules him out of this first leg.
The injury list includes Omari Hutchinson, Jair Cunha, Willy Bolly, Nicolo Savona, John Victor, Chris Wood and Ola Aina.
Porto v Nottingham Forest odds
For Thursday evening’s meeting in Portugal, Porto are 11/10 favourites to establish a first-leg lead. Forest are 5/2 to win on the night while the Draw is 12/5.
In the ‘to qualify’ market, Porto are 4/5 while Forest are quoted at Even money.
As for the outright betting, Porto are 4/1 second favourites behind 7/4 Aston Villa while Forest are 9/1.
Porto v Nottingham Forest prediction
Domestic form doesn’t really tell us much about the ‘Big Three’ in Portugal.
Porto, Sporting and Benfica have lost just two league games between them (Benfica are unbeaten) and Sporting lost at home to Arsenal on Tuesday night.
Forest have already beaten Porto this season and that came during a run when they were in terrible form.
Adding to that is away wins in their last two games – 2-1 against Midtjylland and a crucial 3-0 success at relegation rivals Tottenham.
Porto are a tough nut to crack at home and have won all five of their Europa League fixtures at the Estadio Do Dragao this season.
But Forest may just have enough here so back the Draw at 12/5.
