Hwang Eui-jo has been left out of Nottingham Forest’s Premier League opening day squad.바카라

Nottingham have named their starting XI ahead of their 2023/24 Premier League First Round clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in London, England, on 12 December (kick-off 8.30pm).

The two sides had somewhat contrasting campaigns last season, with a title challenge and a stay-at-home campaign respectively, but as the first league game of the 2023/24 season, the two sides are expected to go head-to-head as equals looking to set the tone early in the campaign.

Home side Arsenal will line up in a 4-3-3. Aaron Ramsdale will be in goal, with Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Julian Timber forming the back four.

In midfield, captain Martin Ødegaard will partner new signings Declan Rice and Kai Habertz. In the front three, Boukayo Sakho, Leandro Trosar, and Gabriel Martinelli will be in front of the Nottingham goal.

Nottingham line up in a 3-4-2-1. Matt Turner will wear the goalkeeping gloves, with Scott McKenna, Willy Boly and Joe Worrall in the back three. The wing-backs are Ola Eina and Serge Aurier.

The midfield will be formed by Aurel Mangala and Ryan Yates, with Morgan Gibbs-White and Danilu in the second line to support frontline striker Brennan Johnson. Hwang was not included in the starting XI and was not named on the substitutes’ bench, closing the door on his chances of playing in the opener.

Meanwhile, there was speculation that Hwang could be handed an early season opportunity ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, having made six appearances for Nottingham in pre-season.

Hwang joined Nottingham last summer to fulfil his dream of playing in the English Premier League, but was soon sent out on loan to Olympiakos in Greece.

While he made a few appearances for Olympiakos, he didn’t perform to expectations, failing to score a single goal in 11 games over the course of half a season. Eventually, he ended his loan deal early and returned to Korea, joining K League 1 side FC Seoul. Fortunately, Hwang’s performance and confidence improved in Seoul, where he played as the main striker, scoring four goals and providing two assists in 18 games. His goal-scoring form also improved, with two goals in the final three games of his loan spell.

With his goalscoring form improving, Hwang ended his loan spell with Seoul on 30 June and returned to Nottingham. Despite the possibility of stiff competition for a starting spot, Hwang was determined to play in the Premier League.

Nottingham scheduled a whopping seven friendlies in pre-season this summer, and Hwang played in six of them. Most notably, in the first pre-season friendly against Notts County (Division 4) on the 15th of last month, Hwang came on as a substitute at the start of the second half and scored a goal within a minute of coming on to secure a 1-0 win.

Having made his mark on the manager, Hwang started and played the full match against Valencia on the 19th, but was unable to make an impact as Nottingham lost 0-1.

He then started the next three games against Levante, Leeds United and PSV from the bench before coming on as a late substitute. He returned to the starting line-up in a friendly against French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennes on the 3rd, playing around 83 minutes, but was again silent and unable to prevent a 0-5 defeat.

He remained on the bench for the final game of pre-season against Eintracht Frankfurt. Nottingham finished that game 0-0, and Hwang appears to be out of the team’s plans for now.

After being left out of the squad for the opening game of the season, it will be interesting to see if Hwang can make his Premier League debut this season.

Photographs by PA wire, Reuters/Yonhap, Nottingham Forest website, Arsenal on social media