Nottingham Forest will aim to move one step closer to ending 23 years of hurt when they host Sheffield United in the second leg of the Championship play-off semi-final on Tuesday evening, boasting a 2-1 lead from the first leg.

Not since 1998-99 have Forest played Premier League football but they will be just one game away providing they can maintain, or improve upon, the one-goal advantage they generated at Bramall Lane on Saturday.

Jack Colback and Brennan Johnson found the net in Sheffield to dismiss the notion that Steve Cooper’s men might have lost momentum heading into the play-offs by losing and drawing their final two games of the regular season, although Sander Berge’s injury-time goal has at least given the Blades a fighting chance at the City Ground.

History is on Forest’s side - with Leeds in 2019 the only team to ever win the first leg away from home but fail to reach the final in the second-tier play-offs - although with a place at Wembley on the line, anything can happen.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Championship play-off semi-final second leg:

When is Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United?

The second leg kicks off at 7:45pm BST on Tuesday 17 May.

Where can I watch it?

The match will be shown on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Ultra HD. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription. We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

What is the team news?

Forest are likely to stick with the same starting XI as the weekend, although Aston Villa loanee Keinan Davis making his return from injury with a 15-minute cameo off the bench in the first leg does give Steve Cooper an attacking alternative, should he want it.

Lewis Grabban is out for the rest of the season and Max Lowe, who has also been injured, is unable to face his parent club.

Sheffield United are also likely to make minimal changes to their starting XI, although George Baldock could come in at right wing-back. Veteran striker Billy Sharp is unlikely to recover from a calf injury.

Predicted line-ups

Nottingham Forest XI: Samba; Worrall, Cook, McKenna; Spence, Yates, Garner, Colback; Zinckernagel; Johnson, Surridge

Sheffield United XI: Foderingham; Basham, Egan, Robinson; Baldock, Norwood, Fleck, Stevens; Berge; Gibbs-White, Ndiaye

Odds

Nottingham Forest 5/4

Draw 11/5

Sheffield United 23/10

Prediction

Sander Berge’s late first-leg goal gave the Blades hope but Forest will have too much on home turf and reach the play-off final at a canter. Forest 3-1 Sheff Utd (agg: 5-2)

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