Nottingham Forest - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Written 17th July 2026 · Everything here very much subject to change, subscribe to the podcast/YouTube channel for all the latest.
This blog is part of Draft FC's Team-by-Team 2026/27 early pre-season series — see all 20 previews in one place here
Five managers and a £116m hole
Sixteenth on 44 points and they survived a season of genuine chaos to get there: Nuno, then Postecoglou, then Dyche, then Vítor Pereira. Four managers in a single campaign, alongside a Europa League run that stretched all the way to a semi-final. You'd think that earned Pereira a proper crack at a full preseason. Forest (Marinakis) thought otherwise and he was sacked in the first week of July with Oliver Glasner - trophy-winning, Palace-hardened Oliver Glasner - has walked into the City Ground.
Forest's 2025/26 data therefore is the noisiest in the league. Four different managerial reigns means every stat is smeared across completely different systems, which means our model's backward-looking projections deserve the biggest error bars on the entire board.
To cap off the chaos the club has also sold its engine in the form of Elliott Anderson for a reported £116m, I deal I absolutely do not blame them for making, but he will be a BIG miss.
What Glasner actually changes
Quite a lot, potentially, and mostly in ways I like for this squad. Also just on an individual basis, I'd argue he's the best out of their recent list of managers. He must be getting a decent wedge to go into this shitshow, considering his stock may never be higher (presumably there wasn't a decent enough Champion's League team with a vacancy for him?). Glasner's Palace identity was a renowned 3-4-2-1, defensively solid, lethal on transitions and set pieces, with wing-backs who became genuine fantasy gold - Muñoz and Mitchell were stars in that system for 2 seasons. Map that onto Forest and it could fit surprisingly well. Milenković and Murillo slot into a back 3 with their defcon volume and aerial threat intact, Neco Williams and Aina are natural wing-backs (Williams quietly logged 128 points last season) and the counter-attacking instincts of Hudson-Odoi or Ndoye suit a transition system far better than they suited a low block. If Glasner's shape lands, the Forest wing-backs are the quiet value nobody's pricing yet.
Life after Anderson
Elliot Anderson to Man City, £116m, official, a British record. He posted the best outfield consistency on our entire shortlist - 25 x 4+ point gameweeks was joint highest in the PL last year (alongside Bruno Fernandes) - 180 points, 52 defcon points. His exit doesn't just remove a player, it removes the supply line - Gibbs-White loses his partner-in-creation, strikers lose their chief creator and the defence lose one of their primary battlers. Until replacements arrive - and none are confirmed yet, with that £116m presumably burning a hole somewhere - I'm nudging every Forest asset down a peg on supply alone.
The Gibbs-White question
188 points, 15 goals. The second half of his season was genuinely something: his points per game jumped by more than 3.5 after the turn of the year, with the highest single-game ceiling of anyone on our shortlist - a 20-point week. The case against is just as substantial: 15 goals feels unrepeatable, he blanks a lot (15 times), the transfer rumours keep circling and his biggest rock in midfield has been sold to Manchester City. The Glasner wrinkle is a point in his favour though - the 3-4-2-1 runs through its 2 number 8/10s, and Gibbs-White is tailor-made for one of those spots, exactly as Eze and Sarr were at Palace. If he stays, Glasner might be the thing that helps keep his draft value where it should be. He'll be an interesting (difficult) one to rank.
The rest of the board
Chris Wood missed most of last season injured and I have to say I'm low on him (again) - the best years look behind him even if he remains a favourite at the club. Igor Jesus finished the season strongly, but the full-season line was grim: roughly 3 points a game, 1 haul all year, blanks everywhere - and that was with Anderson in the team. A late-round dart at best, though it's worth noting Glasner got an awful lot out of one focal-point striker at Palace, so whoever wins the 9 shirt deserves a look.
The opening run
Playable, in a lumpy way: Leeds at home, Liverpool away, Spurs at home, Villa away, Coventry at home, Palace away - and yes, GW6 is now Glasner returning to Selhurst Park which should have some bute. GW1 and GW5 at home are the bankers, and there's no sustained soft stretch, so no fringe-lifting here on fixtures alone. I suspect given the topsy-turvy look to the fixtures we may well be discussing tandem pairings in our proper pre-season pods in a few weeks.
Early verdict
A club that continues to be in chaos, sold its best player, sacked the stabiliser - and might accidentally have appointed the best (or at least safest) fantasy-relevant manager of the summer. Murillo, Milenković and Sels remain as you were and arguably improve under Glasner's structure. The wing-backs are my new watch item but I wouldn't be surprised to see some business done here as they are light for back-up options. Gibbs-White is talented, volatile, under-supplied and newly well-cast. Rank everything with a pending-reinvestment footnote and watch that £116m spend like a hawk.
Stay shook,
Draft FC Mitch
Where our full rankings live
As I said, these previews are just some of my notes and early thoughts, my complete top 240 rankings live within our members area. The Top 20 reveal stays free so keep your eyes peeled for that episode in early August. The rest though, plus all our other member benefits, sit inside a Draft FC membership and if you want to find out more about that, head here.
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