Big Saturday Multiple: Forest to pile misery on Millwall

Jonno Turner
31 January 2015

Forest fans will be keen to see their side end January well

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Jonno Turner takes us on a tour of the bottom three divisions of English football - a highlights a few hot picks along the way...

Bet 1: Nottingham Forest (HOME) @ 1.758/11
Bet 2: Chesterfield (HOME) @ 2.26/5
Bet 3: Southend United (HOME) @ 1.758/11

Nottingham Forest host Millwall at the County Ground this afternoon, desperate to get back to winning ways following a narrow 3-2 loss against Fulham last week.

The home side fell to defeat in West London the week after battling back from 1-0 down in their fierce local derby against Derby County to win 2-1 - and they will be keen to rescue that momentum as they aim to pile the pressure on the play-off chasers.

At the moment, Forest sit 12th in the table, but so tight is this division that a couple of wins could put them right back among the big boys.

On their own turf, they're unbeaten in three from five - and they will see this clash against relegation-threatened Millwall as a real opportunity to end January on a high.

The visitors travel up from South London languishing in 22nd position, five points off safety, and they are still to break their duck in 2015.

In fact, the Lions have notched up just a single win since the beginning of November - a whopping 15 outings - and a massive 35 goals shipped in that time points to where their weaknesses lie.

Indeed, their last three away outings have been nothing short of disastrous. Three losses, 11 goals shipped and just a single goal notched underlines just how off the pace Ian Holloway's side has looked.

Bet 1: Nottingham Forest (HOME) @ 1.758/11

We're off to North Derbyshire for the second of our three picks, and it's a bit of a local derby, as Chesterfield welcome Doncaster Rovers to the Proact Stadium.

Paul Cook's home side have been playing out of their skins in recent weeks and find themselves sitting fifth in the table going into this game.

A 3-0 win against bottom side Crawley Town in midweek will have lifted spirits and boosted morale in the Spireites camp, but that's just the tip of the iceberg - the Blues have won their last four home outings, and all by comfortable margins too, notching 11 goals and shipping just two.

Indeed, three straight clean sheets suggests that the hosts have something good going on at the back, even despite captain Ian Evatt who has struggled to break back into the side following injury last month.

Visitors Doncaster Rovers make this trip from South Yorkshire in 11th position in the third tier, and have only won one from their last half a dozen outings.

Paul Dickov's charges have now gone three without victory on the road, and just two goals scored in that 4.5 hours of football indicates that they are lacking a little va va voom up top.

The last time these two sides met at the Proact, they battled to a 1-1 stalemate - and the hosts have only lost one of their last five home meetings with Rovers. I fancy this one to go the home side's way, and at decent odds too.

Bet 2: Chesterfield (HOME) @ 2.26/5

Dropping to the bottom division now for our final selection, and Southend United welcome York City to the coast.

The Shrimpers go into this clash occupying fifth place in League Two, and desperate to get back to winning ways at Roots Hall following three consecutive 0-0 draws.

That they've not been able to find a way through their opponents in those games will be frustrating to boss Phil Brown, but also it suggests that they are tight and solid at the back - indeed, they've kept five clean sheets on the bounce in front of their own fans.

Away from home, they've been racking up the wins as usual - three from their last four games in fact, scoring seven goals in the meantime.

York make this long trip south in 19th position, and with just a single point separating them from the dropzone.

Russ Wilcox has seen his side fail to win in four outings - drawing two and losing two - and will know that he has to quickly engineer a turnaround, or things could get serious down at Bootham Crescent.

A 1-0 defeat in their last away encounter at Wycombe Wanderers will have knocked the Minstermen, and that makes just one victory from four attempts on the road.

Southend stole the plaudits in the reverse of this fixture, snatching a 3-2 win up in Yorkshire - and with fourth placed Luton Town on the same points but having played a game less, the pressure is on the hosts to grab nothing less than three points here.

Bet 3: Southend United (HOME) @ 1.758/11