Forest are up to 8th in the league after a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace. It’s still early days and Steve Cooper has a bigger point to prove on Friday, but why not live in the moment and bask in Premiership top-half glory.
Stellar performances from several players ensured that Forest enjoyed their first home win of the season with a 65th-minute winner from Kiwi Chris Wood who celebrated his goal with confirmation of his wife’s expectancy.
If Forest can beat East Midlands rival, Leicester City, on Friday night, they will move to 5th in the league after nine games, and who would’ve believed that three years ago?
Forest are up to 8th in the league with some good stats.
There are some fascinating facts surrounding Forest at the moment and the media is finally starting to sit up and notice our city.
Nottingham Forest have been reprogrammed under Nuno and the team looks like a serious premiership outfit. The stats mirror the move up to 8th in the league and the position is based on merit and merit alone.
Forest’s defence, Chris Wood and Elliot Anderson are taking notable accolades in the Premier League statistic rankings.
Not only is this the best start for a Forest team since 1980 – the season after they won the European Cup for the first time – Forest are up to 8th in the league with a defensive record from corners being the most impressive.
Elliot Anderson has won more duels than any other Premier League player with five or more starts, and Chris Wood is now the second most accurate goal scorer this season behind Dominic Solanke of Tottenham Hotspur.
Stats to prove the transformation of Chris Wood under Nuno is when we compare his performances under Steve Cooper. Under Cooper, Wood only scored five times in 23 games. Under Nuno, Chris Wood has scored 16 times in 27 games and is one of the most prolific finishes in the Premier League.
It will be a fascinating game on Friday as Leicester have scored in every game so far this season, and now they go up against a Forest side with the 2nd best defensive record in the league.
Nuno has now tweaked a Forest side with the intent of an enthusiastic yet absent owner. Mr Marinakis won’t be at the King Power stadium this Friday night under the lights as he allegedly spat near the referee following the Fulham game. He is also banned from his own premises for the forthcoming home games against West Ham and Newcastle.
I wasn’t aware that they could do that but, phlegm and sputum aside, with just a few more additions to the side this summer, Forest are shaping up nicely for another game with a banned owner and a manager in the stands.
We all know that it’s still early in the season and going up to 8th in the league will mean nothing at the end of the season if they cannot maintain this form. Margins are very fine at this level and a team only needs a poor run of games to fall into the abyss and begin a fight for relegation.
Forest need more goals.
It would probably be a good idea if Forest don’t concentrate on looking for another goalkeeper in the next window- Sels has sold himself with some magnificent displays between the sticks – and just concentrate on buying another striker.
Strikers are hard to scout for and they are few and far between now unless you want to spunk up £30million for someone like Nketiah.
Forest are still not converting enough chances for me. The small margins have left our goal difference on the verge of uncomfortable and these nervy finishes are probably the reason why the City Ground has been rather quiet at times and not the rattle and hum it usually is.
Going into Friday’s game, the big headache for Nuno is the team selection. With JWP and MGW being available for selection, and Jota Silva proving how disruptive he can be, it does make you wonder what team Nuno will go with for the King Power/Colin Cooper clash.
Hudson-Odoi looked as if he had picked up an injury and Elanga wasn’t as explosive on the wing as I thought he would be, although he did play some wonderful through balls in the first half. Elanga didn’t look confident against Mitchell and he could be replaced on Friday.
This could culminate in an opening for Jota who has been so dynamic. He’s like a train when he comes on; moving non-stop with a drinks bar that runs through the night. He’s on fire when he gets on and his energy is intoxicating. He doesn’t have a heat map; he has a level of incandescence.
Will Nuno turn to the winning team?
With Forest going up to 8th in the league, we suspect that Nuno will favour a winning team and leave Gibbs-White and Ward-Prowse on the bench. And who could blame him? Both Dominguez and Anderson were outstanding in the City Ground victory against Crystal Palace and Ryan Yates just improves with each game, doing what he does best by being a loose spring in the opposition’s moving parts.
I thought that Forest looked well-organised and in control of the game against a good Palace side. Rarely did it look as if Forest were troubled once they had taken the lead and I had a feeling that Forest might just put the game to bed with another goal.
Crystal Palace are a shadow of last year’s squad that looked capable of challenging for European places, with their manager now on the brink of unemployment following no points from eight games.
Taking nothing away from Forest, Crystal Palace looked uninterested and bereft of ideas, never really penetrating Forest’s defence.
Taking away the occasion of a local derby, Forest should be able to open up the Foxes like a hunting-deprived beagle and finally score more than one goal in a game.
Despite playing Forest after back-to-back wins – one against a crap Southampton side (and only just) – Leicester are chaotic at times but they still have some quality players like Ndidi, the ageing Jamie Vardy, and the impressive Argentine, Facundo Buonanotte.
Forest are up to 8th and confident going to Leicester.
With the confidence arising from the back of a first home win, with such a defensive record that is only rivalled by Liverpool, Forest should be able to exploit Leicester’s frailties at the back and bring home all three points whilst catapulting them into 5th place in the league…….until Saturday.
Tree Seasons’ very optimistic prediction for the Friday night, East Midlands, Steve Cooper revenge game is Leicester City 1 – Nottingham Forest 3.
Having said that, it’s got a draw written all over it really, but COYR!
