Wolves vs Nottingham Forest Prediction: Time up for Cooper?

Steve Cooper takes his Nottingham Forest side to Molineux on Saturday afternoon (KO, 15:00), knowing the Premier League game against Wolves could be his last in charge of the East Midlands club.

If reports are to be believed, Cooper needs to achieve a positive result this weekend in order to earn a reprieve from owner Evangelos Marinakis, who has been left deeply unimpressed by a run of one win in 11.

The manager in the opposite dugout, Gary O’Neil, should be feeling a lot more serene in his position after beating Burnley 1-0 on Tuesday.

Team News

Daniel Bentley deputised for Jose Sa against Burnley, making a couple of important saves, so it remains to be seen whether the Englishman keeps his place in goal, even if Wolves’ regular number one is passed fit.

Jonny Otto remains sidelined as a result of disciplinary issues, though, while Pedro Neto and Joe Hodge are still out injured.

Rayan Ait Nouri could return from an ankle problem, and the likes of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Tommy Doyle and Boubacar Traore will be pushing for starts in midfield.

Former Wolves favourite Willy Boly will miss a return to his old stomping ground but another ex-player, Morgan Gibbs-White, who will likely receive a hostile reception on Saturday, is expected to return to the starting XI after being benched in midweek.

Taiwo Awoniyi is still out, though, which should see Chris Wood replace Divock Origi at the point of the attack, with Danilo and Ryan Yates other possible incomings into the line-up.

Match Odds

Wolves have won their last two games at Molineux and they are 5/6 to make it a third, with the draw priced at 5/2. Forest have won just one away game this season – a 1-0 win at Chelsea on September 2 – which goes some way to explaining why they are 16/5 to take the victory.

Both teams to score is available at 4/5 and it’s 10/11 for over 2.5 goals.

Wolves to win and over 2.5 goals @ 2/1

It was a rare goal-shy game at Molineux earlier in the week, with Hwang’s first-half effort proving to be all that Wolves needed to collect the three points. Five of their previous six at home, though, saw at least three goals scored, with the home side winning two of them 2-1.

Forest, meanwhile, are notoriously poor travellers, losing six out of eight away from home this season, five of which have seen over 2.5 goals. Their last three have been particularly brutal, with a 3-2 defeat at West Ham sandwiched between a 3-0 loss at Liverpool and a 5-0 hammering at Fulham last time out.

The clock is ticking on Cooper’s future, and Wolves away isn’t the fixture he needed after the Craven Cottage debacle.

Molineux was crucial to Wolves staving off relegation last year and O’Neil has taken over from where Julen Lopetegui left off, masterminding a five-game home unbeaten run. They should be beating Forest on Saturday, and goals could be on the menu again with the away side needing to throw the kitchen sink if they go behind.

Hee-Chan Hwang to score first @ 9/2 (odds doubled if Hwang scores a second and trebled if he scores a third)

The South Korean is in sensational form for the West Midlands club, with eight goals in 15 Premier League appearances. That’s as many as he scored in 57 outings across his first two seasons.

Hwang has been particularly potent at Molineux, where six of his goals have come, and five of his efforts have been Wolves’ first of the game (three of them have been the first of the game for either side).

The 27-year-old has taken on huge goalscoring responsibility for Wolves this season, with Matheus Cunha (three), Mario Lemina and Sasa Kalajdzic (both two) the only other players to have scored multiple Premier League goals for O’Neil’s side.

Hwang should fancy his chances against a Forest side who have just shipped five to Fulham, and backing him to score the first of the game will see him qualify for Betfred’s ‘Double Delight & Hat-trick Heaven’ promotion, which will see his odds doubled and trebled if he scores a brace and hat-trick, respectively, after netting the first.

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