Nottingham Forest 0-0 Fulham

After West Ham’s 1-1 draw against Manchester City the night before, the Reds found themselves in the relegation zone. With it being so congested near the drop zone, a win could see Forest climb up to 15th. It was all in their hands. They would have to overcome bogey side Fulham though. 

Last time out in the Premier League, Forest fought hard to come from behind twice to draw 2-2 at the Etihad. However, their recent form is not a good look. They are winless in their last six in the league, and they haven’t won at the City Ground in six in the competition; a place that so often came good for them. Vitor Pereira named one change from their fixture at Man City as Hudson-Odoi replaced the injured Jair Cunha. Fulham are looking for a late push for European qualification, but these hopes took a blow as their last league game saw them lose 1-0 at home to West Ham. Marco Silva made three changes in hope of turning things around. The most notable change was the return of Harry Wilson, a man many Forest fans won’t be fond of. 

The first half was not one for the neutral. The best chance of the half fell to Calvin Bassey. Fulham had a free kick from 30 yards out on the right. Iwobi delivered in a delightful ball and Bassey got free of Murillo to have a free header on goal from the edge of the six-yard box. The downward header was poor as it was straight at the outstretched leg of Sels but the ‘keeper did well to keep a hold of it. 

Both sides had struggled to break each other down in that first 45, and there was a huge lack of quality in that final third. This was especially the case for Forest, as it has been in recent weeks. They were getting themselves in good areas but the final effort on goal was poor. The closest the hosts came was through a low free kick from Gibbs-White which Leno saved comfortably. The Reds have now failed to score in six of their last seven first halves at home. 

In a bid to take the game to Fulham, Pereira turned to his bench. Ndoye replaced Hudon-Odoi whilst Hutchinson replaced Dominguez. Ndoye almost had an instant impact as he thought he had won his side a penalty. However, he had ventured offside. This was a positive sign for the hosts as they had managed to get past the Fulham defence. Their bright start to the second half continued as they were denied by the woodwork. Aina made a diagonal run from right back which was spotted by Murillo. He played the ball forward from his own half. Aina tried to get it under control with a touch, but he couldn’t. However, it did set him up to hit the ball on the volley which he did, but the effort crashed off the crossbar. 

The hosts thought they had found a crucial lead, but VAR came to break hearts.  The ball was bouncing around in Fulham’s half, but it finally landed to Williams. He chested the ball down, let it bounce and then saw the run of Ndoye in behind the Fulham defence, dinking it over them. Ndoye got on the end of the pass and stayed composed as Leno rushed out to finish brilliantly into the bottom right corner first time. However, after a VAR check, Ndoye was offside by his heel. 

Just moments after Forest thought they had taken the lead, Fulham almost took it themselves. Leno played a long ball forward which was headed clear by Aina but only as far as Muniz on the edge of the box. He chested the ball before hitting it sweetly on the volley. His effort looked to be flying in, but Aina was there to make a crucial header over the bar. From the following corner on the left, Sangare headed away at the near post. His header landed to Lukic in space on the edge of the box who hit the ball into the ground on the volley, but it bounced just wide of the left post. 

As the game drew to a close, Fulham were pushing for a winner whilst Forest looked to counter at every opportunity they got. They did struggle to get up there to support Awoniyi in time. In the last minute, Awoniyi had broken past Bassey and went to strike at goal but as he released the effort, Tete came in to make a crucial block. The game ended all square, a fair result for both sides. Forest have climbed back out of the relegation zone on goal difference. 

Today was a better performance, we just can’t seem to find the net. We get into good areas but that final pass, cross or shot lacks quality and it lets us down. We have so much attacking talent and it needs to start showing soon. We looked much better when Ndoye and Hutchinson came on as they offered us something different. It is so frustrating that Ndoye was offside as it was so marginal. I think the lineup from the start was too defensive, and that is maybe why we looked better after those half time substitutions. Awoniyi starting needs to be something we look at going forward as he is such a physical presence up there and makes defenders have to think about more. We now move onto two huge games that we need to win. 

Forest: Sels; Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Aina; Sangare, Anderson (McAtee 88’), Dominguez (Hutchinson 46’); Gibbs, White (Yates 74’), Hudson-Odoi (Ndoye 46’); Jesus (Awoniyi 63’) 

Fulham: Leno; Robinson, Bassey, Andersen, Tete; Iwobi, Berge (Cairney 78’); Bobb (Chukwueze 62’), Wilson (Sessegnon 90’), King (Lukic 63’); Jimenez (Muniz 62’)