Nottingham Forest welcome Fulham to the City Ground on Tuesday night seeking to eradicate the four-point penalty handed to them during the international break.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have already earned one point since having four docked, and claiming another three here would give them a huge boost in the fight against relegation.
“We shall fight and we shall overcome” read a banner unfurled at the City Ground on Saturday, as the Forest faithful showed their desire to back the club in the face of Premier League sanctions.
In the first game since Forest were handed a four-point deduction, they managed to pull themselves out of the bottom three thanks to a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, paired with Luton Town’s defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
Despite falling behind to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s strike, and being fortunate to see Eberechi Eze miss two excellent chances, Chris Wood’s superb header salvaged a point for under-pressure Nuno.
The result did extend their run of form to just one win in 10 games though, as Forest have lost six Premier League games in 2024 already.
With an appeal against their points deduction pending, Forest start the midweek schedule outside the bottom three on goal difference ahead of Luton, but they face a Fulham side who they have suffered against in recent seasons.
Forest have lost their last four games against Fulham here at the City Ground, including a 3-2 defeat in their first-ever Premier League meeting last season.
They were also on the receiving end of a 5-0 humbling at Craven Cottage earlier this season, in a result that was the beginning of the end for fans-favourite Steve Cooper, who was soon sacked and replaced by Nuno.
Nuno’s Portuguese compatriot Marco Silva would have had mixed feelings about his side’s performance at the weekend away to bottom-placed Sheffield United.
Fulham’s European push suffered a blow as they only managed a 3-3 draw at Bramall Lane, but after being 3-1 down with five minutes to play, Silva was pleased with the comeback from his players.
A tight VAR offside call prevented the Blades from going 4-1 up, and Fulham took advantage, with in-form Rodrigo Muniz scoring a stunning acrobatic strike in injury time to snatch a point.
The Cottagers remain 12th, four points shy of the top eight having also played a game more than all of the sides around them, weakening their chances of a return to Europe after over a decade away.
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