Nottingham Forest v Brighton: Premier League – live | Premier League

23 min: Matz Sels stands with the ball at his feet on the edge of his six-yard box trying to lure Danny Welbeck forward so he can take him out of the game with a pass upfield. The Brighton striker isn’t tempted, so Sels boots the ball forward instead.

20 min: Referee Simon Hooper reaches for his pocket again and produces a yellow card for Jack Hinshelwood, who had taken a wild swing at Morgan Gibbs-White in a bid to dispossess him. The Brighton midfielder is extremely lucky he didn’t catch the Forest captain’s knee with more force or he might have seen red.

19 min: Anthony Elanga drives forward and cuts in from the left before sending a low shot just wide of the far post through a thicket of legs.

17 min: It’s been a feisty affair so far, which bodes well for the rest of the game. More, please.

16 min: The ball breaks to Brighton’s Jack Hinshelwood outside the Forest penalty area but his low, goal-bound drive is blocked by Morato.

14 min: Without wanting to riff, be-bop and scat all over Lewis Dunk’s pain, I make that seven career Premier League own goals the Brighton captain has scored.

Forest lead! Lewis Dunk sticks out a leg to divert a Morgan Gibbs-White cross from the right, aimed towards Chris Wood, at the far post into his own net. He accidentally finds the far corner, giving Bart Verbruggen no chance.

12 min: Now Danny Welbeck gets booked for a late and fairly unnecessary challenge on Elliot Anderson out by the touchline.

11 min: Forest throw-in, halfway inside their own half. Ola Aina takes it and his side promptly lose possession.

8 min: Forest struggle to play out from the back under an extremely heavy press from Brighton. Joao Pedro is dropping extremely deep for the visitors, making life difficult for Morgan Gibbs-White, who is tasked with keeping tabs on the Brazilian when Brighton have the ball.

7 min: Murillo gets an early yellow card for grabbing Minteh by the left arm and dragging the Brighton winger to the ground.

6 min: Yankuba Minteh unceremoniously sits Williams on his backside with a chop inside the right wing but is unable to get a cross into the Forest box before being forced backwards.

5 min: Williams puts the ball out of play for a throw-in deep in Brighton territory as Joel Veltman tries to play it upfield.

3 min: Joao Pedro plays a give-and-go with Welbeck, advancing through the centre to collect the return pass. Nikola Milenkovic gets enough of his boot on Pedro’s shot to steer it off target.

2 min: Neco Williams and Ola Aina are playing as wing-backs for Forest, the former wearing a protective face mask after breaking his nose last weekend. Murillo is on the left side of the three centre-backs.

1 min: Forest get the ball rolling and it’s played back to their goalkeeper Matz Sels, who launches it upfield. Game on!

Not long now: Soundtracked by Guns N’Roses’ Welcome To The Jungle, Simon Hooper and his fellow officials lead both sets of players out on to the City Ground sward, with Morgan Gibbs-White and Lewis Dunk wearing the captains’ armbands.

Kick-off in the first of the weekend’s Premier League encounters is just a few handshakes, a coin-toss and a shrill blast on Hooper’s whistle away.

Today’s match officials

• Referee: Simon Hooper.

• Assistants: Adrian Holmes and Simon Long.

• Fourth official: Tony Harrington.

• VAR: Paul Tierney.

• Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis.

Nuno Espirito Santo: The Forest manager has confirmed he will be starting with a back three. “Yes, that’s right,” he tells TNT Sports. “To be more compact and more solid. It then allows more freedom to our front players.”

Fabian Hurzeler: “There is always one team that surprises everyone – this season it is Nottingham Forest,” said the Brighton manager in his pre-match press conference. “You see their individual quality, they have a lot, players who have played a long time in the Premier League. For some experts it’s not surprising, but they’re getting the results and are always finding a way to win games.”

Those teams: Following last weekend’s uncharacteristic defensive horror show, Nuno Espirito Santo looks to be switching to a back five, bringing in Morato to play alongside Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic in the heart of Forest’s defence. Danilo is back in the side for his first start in the side since recovering from a broken ankle he suffered on the opening day of the season. Ryan Yates and Jota Silva make way.

Kaoru Mitoma starts for Brighton, who rejected two bids for their Japanese winger from Saudi side Al-Nassr during the week. Jack Hinshelwood, Yankuba Minteh and Georginio Rutter come into the starting 11, with Carlos Baleba, Brajan Gruda and Yasin Ayari dropping out. Expected to leave Brighton on loan or a permanent move before Monday, Irish striker Evan Ferguson starts on the bench after recovering from his latest ankle injury.

Nottingham Forest: Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Morato, Anderson, Danilo, Gibbs-White, Elanga, Wood

Subs: Miguel, Sangare, Awoniyi, Dominguez, Moreno, Jota Silva, Yates, Sosa, Boly

Brighton: Verbruggen, Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Lamptey, Hinshelwood, Minteh, Mitoma, Joao Pedro, Rutter, Welbeck

Subs: Rushworth, Webster, Gruda, Adingra, Gomez, Ferguson, O’Riley, McConville, Knight

Early team news

At a point in the season when some top flight teams are decimated by injury, Nottingham Forest are in extremely rude health. Their in-form winger winger Callum Hudson-Odoi remains sidelined with the groin injury that kept him out of his side’s defeat at the hands of Bournemouth last weekend, but Ibrahim Sangare, has been passed fit to join the matchday squad after five months out with a hamstring tear.

Brighton defenders Igor Julio and Ferdi Kadioglu are both out, along with James Milner, Mats Wieffer and Solly March. Reserve goalkeeper Jason Steele is also unavailable as he is carrying a shoulder injury. Evan Ferguson is expected to take his place on the bench despite Brighton making him available for a move elsewhere before the end of the transfer window.

Nuno Espirito Santo: “We have to react, it’s obvious after a bad performance,” said Forest’s manager of the shellacking his side endured at the hands of Bournemouth.

“There is no other way, we have to react, perform better, we have to be a better team. It’s just back to the basics, back to the things we do well, recognising our strengths and our weaknesses and try to perform better because it was a bad performance.

“We have to perform much better, we have to be solid, we have to play better football. We were not accurate, we missed a lot of passes. So many things to improve. Big challenge ahead of us.”

Forest welcome Brighton to the City Ground, hoping to prove their slaughter at the hands of Bournemouth last weekend was nothing more than an anomaly in an otherwise excellent season for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side. Brighton are also hoping to bounce back from defeat against Everton that came on the back of three consecutive wins and an unbeaten run of seven games in all competitions.

With both sides aiming for European qualification, the stakes are high by the River Trent and if this game is as entertaining as the bad-tempered as September’s corresponding fixture in which both managers and Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White saw red, we should be in for a treat. Kick-off is at 12.30pm (GMT) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.