Bothroyd lines up against Swansea City on Saturday believing that the loss of people like Jason Scotland has left us a weaker side than we were last season.
Bothroyd also claimed that he did not know the Swans form record ahead of the clash that sees two of the division’s form teams going head to head – form that saw both bosses nominated yesterday for the manager of the month award for October.
Speaking to the Western Mail, Bothroyd said “Who’s in form? Swansea, really? I don’t know about that.
“Where are they in the league? Where are we in the league? Well…
“To be honest, since the changes at Swansea, they’re not the side they were.
“They’ve lost their goalscorer Jason Scotland, they lost Jordi Gomez and they lost their manager – which I think is a massive factor and is showing it by him doing really well in the Premier League at Wigan.
“I don’t think they’re the side they were and it will be a totally different game than last year – we’re looking to go there and beat them.
“The hype is big,” the 27-year-old said. “But it’s a great occasion with the noise and the fans buzzing having looked forward to it the whole week.
“I didn’t know about the hatred between the two sides before I came here, so I didn’t know what to really expect from the derby.
“But I’ve experienced it three times and I’m looking forward to the fourth and getting the win.
“It’s a big game, you don’t have to gee yourself up for it. It’s self-explanatory, it’s the derby and the game the fans want to win. It’s a big game for the club and one everyone wants to play in.
“The Forest game was a bit like a defeat – but we’re still unbeaten and we will take that into the Swansea game,” he said.
“And whoever we are playing, we want to keep this run going. We were disappointed when that goal went in against Forest but every point counts – if we’d had one more last year we would have been in the play-offs.
“I think me personally and probably the whole squad got carried away by looking at league tables last year, being in the top six all year and then falling out right at the end.
“This year we can learn our lesson and take each game as it comes and hopefully that will be enough to be there when it matters at the end of the season.”