Nottingham Forest v Southampton LIVE - Six-pointer in the Premier League relegation battle

Niakhate slices a clearance backwards and Navas has to challenge for a high ball with Adams - but punches clear.

Southampton get the game started.

Southampton are in blue, Nottingham in red shirts with white shorts. It's a grey, drizzling evening at the City Ground.

It was their last match at home, however, so one good omen.

Carlos Alcaraz is one Southampton signing who has shown he knows where the goal is. The Argentinian has three goals since arriving in January, a good return from midfield.

However, Alcaraz is the only of the five January signings to start for the visitors tonight - an illustration of a flawed recruitment strategy.

Southampton have been back in the Premier League for 11 seasons now, but that run is set to end barring a miraculous turnaround in their last four games.

The Saints have had three managers this season and a lack of goals has been an issue under all of them - only Everton have scored fewer goals and Danny Ings still has not been replaced, almost two years after he left and despite 15 players arriving in the last two transfer windows.

Nobody has lost more games than Southampton and nobody has won fewer - that's a sure-fire recipe for relegation.

Southampton have not played at the City Ground for more than a decade. They won on their last visit here, with Morgan Schneiderlin scoring the pick of the goals in a 3-0 win.

Leicester City were thrashed 5-3 by Fulham earlier in a result which helps Forest and Southampton in the quests to stay up.

However, there is bad news from the south coast where Everton have picked up a massive win.

Between them, these two sides have won just two of their last 20 matches in the Premier League.

"We're at home and there'll be an expectation from the supporters, and rightly so, therefore we've got to thrive in that moment," Steve Cooper said ahead of this match - one Forest fans will have pencilled in for three points.

"The bigger the games get, it's even more important to focus on performance and what you're in control of and use the context around the game as motivation."

Cooper was also keen to stress that survival remains in Forest's hands and urged his players to "focus on what it's going to take to win the game".

Forest won 1-0 at St Mary's in the reverse fixture via a Taiwo Awoniyi goal. The result was one of the lowest points of Nathan Jones' disastrous spell in charge of Southampton, who failed to record a shot on target that night. It remains Forest's only away win this Premier League season.

Ruben Selles has mixed and matched since becoming interim Saints manager and that continues tonight. Theo Walcott and Che Adams are recalled, while the visitors also switch to a back four. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is the third new face in the line-up.

Southampton: McCarthy, Maitland-Niles, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Walker-Peters, Lavia, Ward-Prowse, S. Armstrong, Alcaraz, Walcott, Adams.

Ryan Yates replaces Joe Worrall in the Forest side, signalling a switch to a back four. Danilo has been declared fit to play, while an extra midfielder may allow leading scorer Brennan Johnson to be a bit more advanced.

Nottingham Forest: Navas, Aurier, Felipe, Niakhate, Lodi, Mangala, Yates, Danilo, Gibbs-White, Johnson, Awonyi.

Welcome along to LIVE coverage of Nottingham Forest and Southampton's pivotal clash at the bottom of the Premier League. They both start the game in the relegation zone, but Forest could lift themselves out with a win. The Saints will still be bottom whatever happens, although anything but a win would all but relegate them. Kick-off is an hour away and team news is coming up next.