Seeking to strengthen their grip on a top-four finish in the Premier League, Nottingham Forest travel to Craven Cottage to face fellow European hopefuls Fulham on Saturday afternoon. The Cottagers will be looking to complete their second league double over the Tricky Trees in three seasons after winning the reverse fixture 1-0 at the City Ground in September last year.
Fulham have enjoyed the month of February thus far, as they have celebrated two 2-1 away victories against Newcastle United in the Premier League and Wigan Athletic in the fourth round of the FA Cup, beating the latter last weekend.
A brace from Rodrigo Muniz helped a much-changed Cottagers outfit edge past their League One counterparts and set up a fifth-round tie with Manchester United at Old Trafford on March 1. Before then, Marco Silva's side will shift their attention to three consecutive Premier League fixtures against Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Fulham currently sit ninth in the top-flight table and are still harbouring realistic aspirations of securing European football for next season, as they are only four points behind the top seven, five points behind the top five, and seven points adrift of the top four with 14 games still remaining.
The Cottagers will ideally need to improve their home form if they wish to remain in the European mix, as they have only won one of their last seven league matches at Craven Cottage, including frustrating draws with relegation-threatened Southampton (0-0) and Ipswich Town (2-2).
There is reason for Fulham to be confident of success on Saturday, though, as they have won four of their last five Premier League meetings with Nottingham Forest, including their last two at home by an aggregate score of 7-0.
Nottingham Forest has been playing excellently over the past ten weeks, winning eight of their previous ten Premier League games and two FA Cup ties, scoring two goals or more in nine of those games, with the exception of their crushing 5-0 loss to Bournemouth at the end of last month.
After a 2-2 draw in 120 minutes, the Tricky Trees defeated League One team Exeter City 4-2 on penalties last weekend in the FA Cup's fourth round, capping off their historic 7-0 top-flight thumping of Brighton & Hove Albion.
Nuno Espirito Santo's team will get ready for three straight Premier League games against Fulham, Newcastle, and Arsenal before facing Ipswich Town in the fifth round. Forest wants to solidify their spot in the top four and possibly increase their six-point lead over Man City and Newcastle in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
With the third-fewest goals (27) allowed and the joint-most clean sheets (10) with Liverpool—six more than they had throughout the whole previous season—Forest boasts one of the greatest defenses in the Premier League this year. In their last eight games, Forest has maintained five of its ten clean sheets.
However, the Tricky Trees have lost nine of their past twelve league encounters with the Cottagers and have given up in 13 of their last 14 games over the previous nine years, so they could have trouble holding Fulham at bay on Saturday.
