Premier League: Similar Requirements Means Victory Required to Ease Pressure

Fulham vs Nottingham Forest

Whisper it quietly but defeat for either of these Premier League sides at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night and the natives could start to get a wee bit restless.

That may seem a tad harsh, and you would be right.

For Marco Silva and Steve Cooper have done sterling jobs at their respective clubs in recent seasons, first to take them out of the Championship into the Premier League but then also to keep them there, ultimately with plenty to spare.

Last season, what they achieved – including some notable results against the odds – were the stuff of dreams.

Yet in some ways, the new campaign has brought a dose of reality and a tougher landscape. That is not to say their touch has deserted them.

It’s just when you are competing week-in, week-out against clubs with much bigger budgets and also can struggle to hold onto your best players, then something will inevitably give.

Now as long as Silva and Cooper remain in place, there is no reason why both sides should fear their top-flight status.

But just to make things more comfortable, they could both do with winning this one to build up a bit more daylight between themselves and those directly below them.

Talking Points

As it stands, Fulham and Nottingham Forest are separated by one place and two points in the table, eight and six points clear of the bottom three respectively.

However, that position has been muddied somewhat by the 10-point deduction imposed on Everton – themselves 1-0 winners at Forest on Saturday.

That defeat was Forest’s third in a row, and some boos rang out at the final whistle which led one reporter to ask the whether the mists were rolling in over Cooper’s reign at the City Ground?

Certainly, if Forest falter again at both Fulham and Wolves this week and Evangelos Marinakis, their owner, does dispense with the club’s most popular manager in three decades, will they be better off?

Nottingham Forest could jump to the 12th spot in the Premier League table with a win over Fulham — Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper looks on during their match against Everton

I don’t think so. They may have only won once in 10 games, but Cooper’s players are clearly trying for him as much as ever in the two years since they climbed off the foot of the Championship to the middle of the Premier League table.

They have not won since February though when Taiwo Awoniyi, out injured for two months, has not started a game.

The Nigerian international is due to be out with a groin injury until the New Year too meaning Cooper needs to find some cutting edge elsewhere – and quickly – to keep Forest out of trouble.

They have looked blunt in successive home defeats and lacking in midfield craft. However, it is largely acknowledged what a good manager Cooper is, and what a good fit he is for Forest.

Fulham have similar issues.

Last season, they would not have lost the game as they did at Liverpool on Sunday when they led 3-2 with four minutes remaining.

That isn’t to say their display was not a big improvement on some recent games.

For example, it took their tally to six goals in two games, hot on the heels of a thrilling (and controversial) 3-2 victory over Wolves.

That was a major difference to the goal-shy side from the Thames of previous weeks, which included a 1-0 reverse at home to Manchester United when their lack of a killer instinct in attack proved crucial.

Like Forest, they have also missed their main spearhead and the man who so ably led their attack last term.

Aleksandar Mitrovic burst onto the scene last year and has simply not been replaced since he headed to Saudi Arabia in the summer.

Their newfound potency in front of goal needs to continue in both this encounter and at home to West Ham this weekend so they can gain more day light.

The similarities between these two are uncanny then and a win on Wednesday would certainly ease pressure that is often just one bad result away.

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History

Fulham have had the edge historically with 44 wins to 32 Forest triumphs and a further 28 draws.

It’s 118 years since they first locked horns in a second round FA Cup tie at Craven Cottage in 1905 which the west Londoners won by a solitary goal.

Fulham won both league matches last term.

In September, they produced a spirited second half fightback at the City Ground to overturn a 2-0 deficit as Awoniyi’s opener was cancelled out by three goals in six minutes from Tosin Adarabioyo, Joao Palhinha, and Harrison Reed before Lewis O’Brien pulled one back for Forest.

The corresponding fixture was a 2-0 home Fulham success, courtesy of goals from Willian and Manor Solomon in what was Forest’s first visit to Craven Cottage in the top division since November 1967 in League Division One.