With Nottingham Forest having secured just 2 wins from their opening 10 games, and no victories since the start of September, Steve Cooper was in the firing line and a high-risk casualty candidate in the Premier League sack race. Could their home game against Aston Villa change Cooper’s fortune?
At home at the City Ground in Match day 11, Notts Forest went in to the game knowing that 16th in the table, the same as they finished last season, was not going to cut it. As Steve Cooper watched from the sidelines, it took just 5 minutes for Ola Aina to give Forest the lead with an early strike, helped further in the 47th minute when Orel Mangala spun a shot at Emiliano Martinez that he parried, only for it to spin backwards and over the line. While this howler definitely helped Nottingham Forest to land their 2-0 win on the day and with only 27% of the possession on the day, for Cooper’s chances to stay at Forest, any win was enough. Before the game, BetVictor had him at 16/1 odds, but these have moved out to 33/1 at the time of writing, comfortable enough to take Steve Cooper off the radar for now.
BV Prediction: Steve Cooper to be sacked?
An impressive performance from the Forest, wins in upcoming games against West Ham and Brighton could take Cooper off the next manager odds hotlist as their move up to 12th in the table shows an improvement on last season’s finish. While very few managers are assuredly safe in the Premier League sack race, Steve Cooper’s managerial tenancy looks to be a distant worry for now.
