Daniel Farke believes Leeds United have the quality and capability to earn enough points to stay in the Premier League, ahead of a huge six-pointer this Friday.

Leeds welcome Nottingham Forest, who are level on points but one place below them in the table, to Elland Road for what could be a pivotal game in both teams' seasons. 

Farke's side were thumped 4-0 by leaders Arsenal in their last league match, though that was just their second defeat in their last 11 Premier League games (W3 D6). 

It was also a result that saw their five-game unbeaten run on home soil come to an end, and though Farke wants to kickstart another similar stretch, he acknowledged the difficulty of doing so against a side managed by Sean Dyche. 

"He [Dyche] has a proven record at Premier League level," Farke said. "He has shown several times what he is capable of.

"During this season he gave lots of stability back to Nottingham, who have won many points in recent weeks.

"I think Forest are a team of lots of individual quality; they qualified for Europe last season and have spent lots of money in the last summer.

"I am confident that with this group we can achieve our goals, our targets. We are capable of winning enough points to win the right to stay in this league.

"Nothing is achieved yet, though. In each and every gameday, you have to fight to win points."

After sealing their spot in the Europa League play-offs, Forest battled to a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, having seen Neco Williams sent off for a 45th-minute handball. 

Williams' sending off was the first straight red card for handball in the Premier League by an outfield player since Chelsea's Reece James in August 2021 (vs Liverpool).

And despite a positive result, Forest's problems were made even worse when Matz Sels was withdrawn at half-time with an injury, with Angus Gunn coming on to replace him. 

"We're waiting over the next 48 hours to get some advice on it, so we'll get an opinion over the next few days before I think about the length of it," Dyche said of Sels' injury. 

"We have a chance, but we'll see how it settles."

With back-up goalkeeper John Victor also out, Forest moved quickly to add to their goalkeeping ranks by signing former Manchester City shot-stopper Stefan Ortega.

"He's a keeper that we have liked from history. I have always said that we have great goalkeepers at this football club," Dyche added.

"John getting injured has allowed the chance for Ortega to come in. He's enjoying it so far and has mixed in with the group."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Leeds – Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Calvert-Lewin has scored nine Premier League goals this season, having only twice reached double figures in a single campaign (13 in 2019-20, 16 in 2020-21).

The last Englishman to score 10 league goals in their first season with Leeds was Matt Smith in 2013-14 (12 in the Championship).

Nottingham Forest – Morgan Gibbs-White

It is no surprise that Forest's upturn in form in the top flight has coincided with Gibbs-White's impressive form in front of goal recently. 

He has either scored (three) or assisted (one) a goal in four of his last five Premier League appearances, while he also scored what proved to be Forest's winner in the reverse fixture against Leeds in November.

MATCH PREDICTION: LEEDS WIN

Leeds have won their last three top-flight home games against Forest (1996, 1999 and 2023) and have never failed to score in their 25 top-flight home matches against them.

Farke's side have also won all four of their Premier League night matches at Elland Road this season (7.30pm or later), most recently a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace in December.

And after a run of six defeats in seven league games between October and November (W1), Leeds have lost just two of their last 11 since the start of December (W3 D6). They've conceded four goals in both of these defeats, including a 4-0 home loss to Arsenal last time out.

Forest, meanwhile, are looking to complete the league double over Leeds for the first time since 2013-14, and for just the second time ever in the top-flight after 1995-96.

And you would expect them to do so here, given they have lost just one of their last 15 Premier League games against promoted sides (W9 D5), which came in a 1-0 home defeat against Sunderland earlier this season.

However, Dyche's men are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games (W2 D2). It is their longest run without defeat this season, last going longer between December and January last season (eight).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Leeds – 41.4%

Draw – 26.7%

Nottingham Forest – 32%