Zinckernagel starts: The predicted Nottingham Forest XI to face West Brom on Easter Monday

Nottingham Forest’s lengthy unbeaten run came to an end when they were beaten by Luton Town on Friday afternoon.

Kal Naismith’s penalty was enough to give the Hatters all three points and inflict defeat on Steve Cooper’s Reds on a day that saw some controversial refereeing decisions for both teams on the pitch.

Nevertheless, Forest remain inside the Championship top-six, sitting fifth in the league standings, four points clear of Sheffield United in seventh and only three behind Huddersfield Town in third.

Forest don’t have long to dwell on the defeat either, with West Brom at home up next for the Reds on Easter Monday as they look to continue consolidating a play-off place.

With that being said, we thought we’d take a look at a potential XI boss Steve Cooper could deploy for the tie.

We expect Cooper to deploy a familiar 3-4-1-2/5-2-1-2 formation for the tie, with goalkeeper Brice Samba continuing to keep his place in goal.

We think Cooper will name a familiar back five, too, with Scott McKenna, Tobias Figueiredo, and Joe Worrall lining up at centre-back, with Jack Colback and Djed Spence occupying the left and right flanks, respectively.

In the centre of the park, we expect James Garner and Ryan Yates to play as a two, with Philip Zinckernagel coming back into the side in attacking midfield.

This pushes Brennan Johnson further forward into the front two, in place of Lewis Grabban, where we think he could line up alonside Aston Villa loanee Keinan Davis.

Nottingham Forest vs West Brom is set for a 3pm kick-off at the City Ground, Monday 18th April.

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