Match Preview
Fulham vrs Nottingham Forest
Premier League Match Day 25 24/25 at Craven Cottage
Saturday 15th February 2025 KO: 15:00
Referee:
Thomas Bramall (Sheffield)
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Fulham welcome fellow European hopefuls Nottingham Forest 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.
Aside from their heavy 5-0 defeat at Bournemouth at the end of last month, Nottingham Forest have been in fantastic form over the last 10 weeks, winning eight of their last 10 Premier League matches as well as two FA Cup ties, scoring two or more goals on nine of those occasions.
The Tricky Trees followed up their memorable 7-0 top-flight demolition of Brighton & Hove Albion with a 4-2 penalty-shootout victory over League One outfit Exeter City in the fourth round of the FA Cup last weekend, following a 2-2 draw in 120 minutes.
Before taking on Ipswich Town in the fifth round, Nuno Espirito Santo's side will prepare for three successive Premier League fixtures against Fulham, Newcastle and Arsenal, with Forest hoping to consolidate their place in the top four and potentially extend their six-point advantage over both Man City and Newcastle in fifth and sixth respectively.
Forest boast one of the best defences in the Premier League this season, as they have conceded the third-fewest goals (27) and have kept the joint-most clean sheets (10) along with Liverpool, six more than they managed in the whole of last season. Five of Forest's 10 clean sheets have been kept in their last eight fixtures.
The Tricky Trees may find it difficult to keep out Fulham on Saturday, though, as they have lost nine of their last 12 league meetings with the Cottagers and have conceded in 13 of their last 14 matches over the last nine years.
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Fulham have won four of their five Premier League games against Nottingham Forest (L1), including both meetings at Craven Cottage by an aggregate score of 7-0.
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Nottingham Forest have lost nine of their last 12 league games against Fulham, winning the other three. Two of those three victories came in away matches (2-1 in August 2019 and 1-0 in April 2022, both in the Championship).
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Fulham have won two of their last three Premier League games (L1), as many as in their previous 10 games in the competition (D6 L2), and could win successive league matches for the first time since November.
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Fulham have lost just two of their last eight Premier League games in which they’ve conceded the opening goal (W3 D3), with their three wins in 2024-25 only bettered in 2002-03 (4).
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Rodrigo Muniz’s winner against Newcastle United last time out was Fulham’s 11th Premier League goal of the season via a substitute, the joint-most in the competition along with Bournemouth. Indeed, three of these have been winning goals, only the Cherries (4) have more.
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Fulham’s Raúl Jiménez is one goal away from reaching double figures in a Premier League campaign for the first time since 2019-20 at Wolves (17), managed then by Nuno Espírito Santo. The Mexican has scored three goals in his two previous Premier League games against Nottingham Forest.
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Nottingham Forest have won eight of their last 10 games in the Premier League (D1 L1), with five of their 10 clean sheets in the league this season coming in their last eight matches.
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Victory for Nottingham Forest will see them reach 50 points in a top-flight season for the first time since 1995-96, while doing so by their 25th game would be the second-fastest they’ve ever done so in a top-flight campaign after 1977-78 (23rd game when converting to three points/win).
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Nottingham Forest have benefitted from more errors that have led to a goal than any other side in the Premier League this season (13), while only Arsenal (0) have made fewer errors leading to a goal than Nuno Espírito Santo’s side (2).
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Source Oliver Thomas at SportsMole/BBCSports