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In Wednesday’s Premier League match at Craven Cottage, Fulham takes on Nottingham Forest, both teams looking to recover from heartbreaking 1-0 losses over the weekend.
The match finished with a 4-3 victory for the Reds, meaning Marco Silva’s team left empty-handed, while Everton defeated Steve Cooper’s team 1-0.
During Fulham’s seven-goal spectacular against Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, where the Cottagers twice overcame a deficit in the first half to go into the tunnel on equal terms due to goals from Harry Wilson and a late toe-poke from Kenny Tete, Marco Silva’s expression told it all.
When Bobby Decordova-Reid towered above Kostas Tsimikas and headed home in the 80th minute, Fulham looked set to break the Reds’ perfect Anfield sequence.
However, Wataru Endo and Trent Alexander-Arnold broke Cottagers’ hearts, with the latter scoring a sensational winner in the 87th minute.
Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters may believe that Fulham received their fair desserts on Merseyside after Fulham’s agonising loss at Anfield, which drops Silva’s team to 14th in the Premier League table after 14 games, was caused by a late controversy six days earlier in the Cottagers’ 3-2 triumph.
The Cottagers are still comfortably eight points clear of the relegation zone, but a sustained string of subpar defensive outings could push them even closer to danger.
Silva’s team has conceded nine goals in their last three games and has failed to keep a clean sheet in ten games across all competitions.
Fulham’s 2023–24 Premier League season has seen three wins and three losses at Craven Cottage; this win-loss pattern at home is not encouraging for the Cottagers, nor is their team’s history of failing to win their last 11 Wednesday top-flight games.
The gap between Fulham and their next opponents in the Premier League standings is just one spot and two points, which means that if their patchy home record persists, Nottingham Forest could overtake the Cottagers.
However, thus far this season, the Tricky Trees have not presented a difficult challenge for the majority of their opponents.
In an attempt to recover from back-to-back 3-2 losses to Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham United, Forest was thwarted by a resilient Everton defence over the weekend.
They lost 1-0 at the City Ground to a breathtaking goal by Dwight McNeil, and the crowd erupted in applause as the final whistle blew.
Although Cooper shouldn’t be in any danger of being fired right now, the 43-year-old is starting to feel the heat as winter approaches.
His team is currently in 15th place, six points above the drop zone after suffering three straight losses in the top flight.
The unexpected 2-0 victory over Champions League contender Aston Villa in November seems like a long time ago for Forest, who have only managed one point from their last four away Premier League games and have failed to score in three of those games.
In recent weeks, Fulham and Forest have shown a preference for 3-2 scorelines.
The Cottagers’ trip to the City Ground resulted in Silva’s team winning by that score, and the hosts won 2-0 in February’s match in the capital thanks to goals from Willian and Manor Solomon.
Fulham Premier League form:
L D L L W L
Fulham form (all competitions):
D W L L W L
Nottingham Forest Premier League form:
D L W L L L
Joao Palhinha returned from a domestic suspension following Fulham’s loss to Liverpool, thus there were no new injury worries raised.
As a result, Silva should only be missing three players known for the Cooper team’s visit.
Although none of the three players are expected to return until after the New Year, Adama Traore (thigh), Issa Diop (foot), and Rodrigo Muniz (knee) are anticipated to return; the former two may possibly return for this weekend’s derby against West Ham.
While Tom Cairney and Reid combined to score Fulham’s third goal at Anfield over the weekend, Silva’s decision to bench two-goal hero Willian in favour of Wilson was warranted.
However, both players have placed their names in the pot to start on Wednesday.
On the other hand, centre-back Willy Boly suffered a muscular injury at halftime against Everton, forcing Forest manager Cooper to make an unwelcome substitution. Boly should now give up his spot in the shield to Felipe or Moussa Niakhate.
Apart from Boly, however, Taiwo Awoniyi is the only other player in the Forest medical team’s care.
He is recovering from a groyne treatment, and it looks unlikely that he will play again until March.
Though the Tricky Trees didn’t play particularly poorly over the weekend, the rapid turnaround could help Nicolas Dominguez, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Neco Williams’ chances of being called back into the starting lineup this time.
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Leno; Tete, Bassey, Ream, Robinson; Palhinha, Cairney; Wilson, Pereira, Reid; Jimenez
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Vlachodimos; Williams, Felipe, Murillo, Toffolo; Mangala, Yates, Dominguez; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi
Our Prediction Fulham 2-1 Nottingham Forest
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