Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola has insisted that he is not thinking about the prospect of qualifying for Europe despite their impressive form.

His side are currently on an 11-match unbeaten run in all competitions, with 10 of those matches coming in the Premier League.

That run has taken them to seventh in the table, just one point behind sixth-placed Newcastle United, who they beat 4-1 away last weekend.

"We haven’t set goals," said Iraola. "Right now, even though we are in a very good run of results, like you know, we are in an injury crisis.

"So, we need to recover players because it's going to be difficult with only 11, 12 players to keep these levels of performance. I hope we can recover players and we can keep the performance level.

"Let's see, not now, but at the end of, I don't know, March where we are and if we have a chance to achieve something."

Similarly, Nottingham Forest have been making waves in the Premier League this season and come into their match away to Bournemouth third in the table, six points behind leaders Liverpool.

Forest earned a 3-2 victory over bottom-of-the-league Southampton last Sunday although, having initially been 3-0 up in that game, it finished closer than many had expected.

Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has said that, despite the new pressures that come with competing at the top of the division, their approach will not change.

"Our approach is always the same, and this is what guides us. What guides us is our levels of performance and the way we want to keep improving as a team," he said.

"There are so many things we should improve. We know what we are. We know our weaknesses and our strengths, and we will keep insisting on that.

"That will not affect us. We have our own way to do things."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Bournemouth – Justin Kluivert

Kluivert netted his second hat-trick of the season in Bournemouth's 4-1 victory over Newcastle last time out, taking him to 10 league goals this season.

In doing so, he became just the fourth different Bournemouth player to score 10+ goals in a single Premier League campaign, after Josh King (twice), Callum Wilson and Dominic Solanke.

Nottingham Forest – Chris Wood

Wood has scored 14 Premier League goals this season, his joint-best return in a single campaign (also 2023-24 and 2019-20).

Indeed, the only Antipodean player to score more in a season is Australian Mark Viduka (17 in 2000-01, 20 in 2002-03).

MATCH PREDICTION: BOURNEMOUTH WIN

Bournemouth are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League games (W6 D4), with only the current top two sides, Liverpool (17) and Arsenal (12) enjoying a longer ongoing run at present.

The Cherries are also on an 11-match unbeaten run in all competitions, having beaten West Bromwich Albion 5-1 in the FA Cup third round within their unbeaten league sequence.

They have scored 11 goals in their last three matches in all competitions and are the third-highest goalscorers in the Premier League outside the top six with 36 goals.

Forest have won just one of their last 10 away league games against Bournemouth (D3 L6), beating them 2-1 in the Championship in August 2014.

However, Nuno's side have won more points over the last 10 Premier League games than any other team (25 – W8 D1 L1), with no side conceding fewer goals across this run than Forest (nine).

But both teams may opt against scoring the opening goal at the Vitality Stadium. The team scoring first has won none of the five Premier League meetings between Bournemouth and Forest (D3 L2) – in all five cases, it’s the home side to have opened the scoring.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Bournemouth – 46.3%

Draw – 25.1%

Nottingham Forest – 28.6%