Fulham coach Marco Silva is relishing the opportunity to take on the Championship’s most in-form side on Sunday afternoon.
Nottingham Forest have taken 13 points from a possible 15 since Steve Cooper’s appointment, including victory at Bristol City in midweek despite trailing heading into stoppage time.
“They are in great, great form,” Silva admitted. “It’s a great start for their new manager, Steve. They are achieving results. The last game, the way they won gives them a big, big boost."
“They are in a great moment. That is good, it means the game will be open, both teams trying to win the game.
“I’m 100 per cent sure the atmosphere in their stadium will be really good. We have to embrace that challenge, go there and play our best.”
Silva will be ticking the City Ground off his stadium list at the weekend, and he’s anticipating some good noise on the banks of the River Trent.
“It will be my first time there,” he said. “I will enjoy the atmosphere for sure. I will enjoy it definitely because I know what it means to play there. I know what it means to play with that crowd behind them.
“They’re in a very good moment, and for me, as a manager, that’s everything that I want; to enjoy the moment, to enjoy that atmosphere.
“Even if [the atmosphere] is for them and against us, it will be good. This is my first feeling as a football manager.
“The other is that Steve has had a great, great start. They’ve had fantastic numbers, the way they are winning, the last game when they were losing until the last moments.
“It’s fantastic to play against a team who don’t just have quality, but are also in a very good moment in terms of confidence, in terms of results as well. It’s fantastic that team will face us, and we will try to play to win.
“They will be aggressive, they will have the crowd behind them, but Fulham Football Club – in its best level – can win the game.
“They will force us to do that, and we go with the same ambition that we played the last two games at home.”