FPL tips for GW30: Why you should consider key Nottingham Forest pair

Anthony Elanga and Nikola Milenkovic of Nottingham Forest embrace in celebration after a goal during the Premier League match against Brighton & Hove Albion at the City Ground in Nottingham, UK on 1 February, 2025.
Anthony Elanga and Nikola Milenkovic have been among Nottingham Forest's star men this term (Image credit: Alamy)

Nottingham Forest’s fantastic campaign continued at the weekend as they beat Brighton on penalties to reach the FA Cup semi-finals, and some of their star men could be valuable Fantasy Premier League assets over the next month or so.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s are at home to Manchester United on Tuesday night, the beginning of a run of fairly favourable-looking Premier League fixtures for Forest. They then travel to Champions League qualification rivals Aston Villa, before hosting Everton, travelling to Tottenham and Crystal Palace, then entertaining local rivals Leicester.

Forest do have a weekend off league action between those Spurs and Palace games due to their FA Cup semi against Manchester City, but now could still be an opportune time to add one or two of their key players to your FPL squad…

Nottingham Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo punches the air in celebration following his side's win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup quarter-final match at the Amex Stadium in Falmer, UK on 29 March, 2025.

Nuno Espirito Santo has Nottingham Forest on course for their highest league finish in 30 years (Image credit: Alamy)

First up is Nikola Milenkovic, Forest’s formidable centre-back enforcer. The giant Serb is currently owned by just over 10% of FPL managers, but, at just 4.9m, he could be a bargain signing for plenty more bosses.

Milenkovic has chalked up at least five points in five of the last six Gameweeks, totalling 11 against Ipswich in his side’s last Premier League outing, where he opened the scoring in a 4-2 away victory by lashing home from a corner. He had previously leveraged his substantial set-piece threat to score -from the same situation in February’s 4-3 defeat at Newcastle.

In between those two matches, Milenkovic helped Forest to successive clean sheets as they drew 0-0 with Arsenal and beat Manchester City 1-0 to cement third place in the Premier League table. Forest have kept the opposition out in their last three home league fixtures, all of which have seen Milenkovic complete the 90 minutes.

Nikola Milenkovic celebrates with his teammates after scoring the opening goal for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League match against Ipswich Town at Portman Road in Ipswich, UK on 15 March, 2025.

Nikola Milenkovic scored Nottingham Forest's first goal as they beat Ipswich 4-2 last time out in the Premier League (Image credit: Alamy)

You might also want to think about signing Anthony Elanga, who’s currently owned by an even lower proportion of FPL gaffers – less than 7% coming into Gameweek 30. The Sweden winger bagged a brace in the aforementioned triumph at Ipswich, having recorded a hat-trick of assists in the 7-0 drubbing of Brighton at the City Ground in February.

Available for 5.3m, Elanga could be a frugal acquisition ahead of his meeting with former club Man United, whose clean sheet away to Leicester last time out was their first on the road since January.

The deadline for team changes for Gameweek 30 is 18:15 BST on Tuesday, 1 April.

Tom Hancock

Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...