Nottingham Forest v Southampton: Back BTTS in must-win Monday match-up

• Forest have scored in 15/17 at home

• Saints at their best vs basement battlers

• Must-win match could prove entertaining

Forest felled late on

Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper admitted the Reds late 2-1 loss at Brentford was "tough to take".

The Tricky Trees appeared to be heading for a vital victory in their battle against the drop with Brazilian midfielder Danilo putting the visitors ahead just before half-time. However, two late home goals left the basement battlers returning home pointless.

Speaking post-match, Cooper said: "It's a sense of massive disappointment. One got away. We scored off a long throw then we needed to manage the game. We felt in a comfortable position.

They had the ball but weren't really creating a lot of chances. Then the two goals were disappointing that we gave away. It's cost us the game and it's hard to take."

Goalkeeper Dean Henderson has now been ruled out for the rest of the season, joining Chris Wood, Neco Williams, Omar Richards and Scott McKenna on the long-term injury absentee list.

There are also doubts about the availability of Brennan Johnson, Danilo, Jonjo Shelvey, Jack Colback, Gustavo Scarpa, although all five could be involved on Monday night.

Southampton winless in nine

Southampton supremo Ruben Selles has accepted the chances of his side staving off relegation are "low" but has insisted Saints are "still alive" in the fight for survival.

The St Mary's side start the weekend six points adrift of safety with four games left to play in the Premier League following last Sunday's 3-1 defeat away at Newcastle.

Stuart Armstrong gave Southampton a surprise first-half lead at St James' Park following a swift counter-attack.

But Newcastle battled back strongly after the interval to overwhelm the south coast club, extending Saints' winless streak to nine. Nevertheless, Selles insists his side can overturn their current predicament, starting on Monday night at the City Ground.

Selles said: "I'm still positive - we are still alive. We're going to try to win the next four games, as we have been trying to do with every game.

I know are chances are low but we're going to fight until the very end. We know that we can compete against anyone and we have another chance now against Nottingham Forest to turn our situation around."

Mohamed Salisu, Valentino Livramento and Romain Perraud are all out for the season but Paul Onuachu could be available again after missing the trip to Newcastle with a knee injury.

Reds at their best at the City Ground

Nottingham Forest and Southampton have only crossed swords once in the past decade - the Tricky Trees picked up a 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture back in January to extend an impressive sequence of results in head-to-head encounters.

The Reds have returned W8-D3-L3 against Saints across 14 league meetings going back to the 1992/93 campaign.

Nottingham Forest 2.1011/10 have earned a solitary success in 13 (W1-D3-L9) Premier League dates, failing to keep a clean sheet in that same sample.

Nevertheless, Steve Cooper's side have produced their best work at the City Ground (W6-D6-L5), suffering a sole reverse when welcoming bottom-half sides (W4-D3-L1). The hosts have scored in 15/17 home outings.

Southampton 3.8514/5 have to take top honours in nine (W0-D3-L6), and have managed only three league victories across their past 23 (W3-D4-L16).

The rock-bottom outfit have recorded just four clean sheets across the campaign, yet all of Saints' six Premier League triumphs have come against fellow bottom-nine scrappers (W6-D2-L7), including four away.

Back both sides to oblige

With only four Premier League matches to play, both Nottingham Forest and Southampton are entering must-win territory in their battle to secure top-flight safety.

Both the Reds and Saints will see Monday night's match-up as a great opportunity to pick up maximum points and I'm therefore anticipating an open and entertaining City Ground encounter.

Forest have failed to notch just twice at home since promotion and should be well-capable of grabbing a goal against a Southampton rearguard with only four shutouts to their name.

Yet Saints have displayed enough counter-attacking ability in performances at Newcastle and Arsenal of late to suggest they could also make their mark on this match-up.

I'm therefore happy to support Both Teams To Score at 1.8910/11.

With Premier League survival on the line, desperation is likely to play a part here and with neither side appearing particularly watertight of late, a goal-heavy clash could well be on the cards.