Nottingham Forest vs FC Midtjylland Schedule and Prediction 13 March 2026

Nottingham Forest will host FC Midtjylland in the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League Round of 16 at the City Ground. This tie feels particularly charged because the two sides have already met in the league phase this season, and Forest slipped up at home on that occasion.

Nottingham Forest vs Midtjylland Schedule

Below are the match details in GMT+7 (WIB). The official match listing records kick-off at 20:00 UTC on 12 March 2026, which means the fixture will be played at 03:00 WIB on 13 March 2026.

Current Form of Both Teams (Updated to 12 March 2026)

LAPKV get a News that Nottingham Forest come into this match on the back of a positive sign in their most recent league outing, having held Manchester City to a 2-2 draw at the Etihad. It was a result that showed their fighting spirit remains intact, even with league circumstances still tight. In Europe, Forest have also just come through the play-off round with mixed results, but enough to book their place in the last 16.

Midtjylland, meanwhile, arrive in England with a fairly stable run of form in their domestic competition, including a convincing away win and several results suggesting they are comfortable playing in a pragmatic manner. Their latest available results also indicate that Midtjylland are not an easy side to break down when matches become physical.

Nottingham Forest vs Midtjylland Head-to-Head

The competitive head-to-head record that can be readily verified shows only one official meeting in public data, which came in the Europa League league phase earlier this season. That means the “five-match” section below cannot yet be fully completed because the fixture history is genuinely limited, not because the data is unavailable.

Tactical Prediction and Key Battle

Forest are likely to rely on a 4-2-3-1 shape, with Morgan Gibbs-White acting as the main link in attack, while Hudson-Odoi on the flank could be a difference-maker in one-against-one situations. Midtjylland, on the other hand, tend to be comfortable in a 3-4-2-1 system, making use of two attacking midfielders or second strikers behind the main forward to exploit spaces between the lines. Their progression can also be sharp through two wing-backs who are active both going forward and tracking back.

The key battle may lie in central midfield. If Forest can control second balls and prevent Midtjylland from launching quick attacks through the half-spaces, their chances of taking a home win will improve. However, if Forest lose control in transition, Midtjylland have the sort of cool, clinical profile capable of punishing them on the counter-attack and from set-pieces.

Predicted Line-ups for Nottingham Forest vs Midtjylland

The following prediction is based on the projected starting XIs ahead of the match.

Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Matz Sels; Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams; Elliot Anderson, Ibrahim Sangaré; Omari Hutchinson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi; Igor Jesus.

Forest are also reported to have several players unavailable through injury, including Chris Wood and Willy Boly in the latest pre-match update.

FC Midtjylland (3-4-2-1): Elías Ólafsson; Martin Erlic, Mads Bech, Ousmane Diao; Kevin Mbabu, Philip Billing, Denil Castillo, Victor Bak; Aral Simsir, Gue-Sung Cho; Júnior Brumado.

For Midtjylland, there is also a list of absentees ahead of the match, including Darío Osorio, who was listed as suspended in the same update.

Nottingham Forest vs Midtjylland Score Prediction

Considering Forest have started to rediscover some belief after a strong result against Manchester City, but also keeping in mind that Midtjylland have already won at the City Ground this season, this first leg looks set to be another tight contest with only a narrow margin between the two teams.

Predicted score: Nottingham Forest 1-1 FC Midtjylland