Fulham vs Nottingham Forest

Thumped these guys pretty good back in September at the City Ground, but, as we all know, that means zilch for the return match in this league. My only trepidation in securing a season sweep is this: the calendar has turned the page to February. For whatever reason, that seems to have an effect on our results. We won all four of our league matches in January, the only blemish was the stinker against Southampton in the FA Cup. I'm sure you'll agree, we'll all take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Forest sacked Mark Warburton on NYE and replaced him with Aitor Karanka on January 8th. His record is 1 win, no draws and 3 losses. Last time out, they were beaten at home 3-nil by Preston North End. We should win this match...which, of course, means we'll probably struggle and be lucky to salvage a draw. But...as with almost every side Slavisa has fielded since his arrival, there's a considerably stronger fortitude amongst the players than his predecessors. It showed in two of the January wins that we really deserved nothing out of. I'm going to predict a massive blowout win for the Whites, just because I share their spirit and optimism. We've hit our stride, and it's beginning to lengthen and quicken. And players who've easily could have been on milk cartons are starting to show up and contribute (hello Mr. Fonte). How's 5-nil good guys sound? I think we can make a run on second place, maybe even first, if things keep trending upwards. No reason to think they won't. Let's be bullish.
Oh, and I'm confused (as usual). If the Lord High Sheriff of Nottingham is supposedly pursuing Robin Hood and his band of merry men through Sherwood Forest, then where the hell is Nottingham Forest? Sounds to me like the sheriff has for more territory than he can possibly patrol to be an effective law enforcement agency.

 

The Sheriff of Nottingham is the Sheriff of the entire County of Nottinghamshire. Sherwood Forest is north of the town of Nottingham, near Mansfield. It is a very large area for one Sheriff to cover, but he is a power mad sell sword made legit by some third rate royal back in the day.

 

I must point out that the one win Forest had so far this year was a 2-0 victory at league leading Wolverhampton, so we shouldn't underestimate them.

Forest also signed six players today so who knows what their lineup will look like. We might even get to see former Fulham midfielder Ashkan Dejagah who just signed on for the rest of the season.

 

Ash Can!!!! I hope he gets in & the Fulham faithful give him a nice reception, always gave his all for the cause.

 

Starters: and an extra thought. We've been doing most of our recent good work without Cairney. He and Ojo are out again today.

 

Cue the Dancing Banana!!!!!!!!

 

The last time we won five league matches in a row? The 2000/2001 season. The last time we got the double on Nottingham Forest? The 2000/2001 season. Some other good things happened that season too.

 

I wonder how many matches we would have won if Marcus had been our starter in all the games Button started. No matter. He's the starter now, and he showed why today. This one could have easily gone the other way, save for Bettinelli. Don't think there's that much difference in quality between he and Button, but, for whatever reasons, we get more results when he's in there. He was really the difference today. All Piazon has to do is stay healthy. The sky's the limit for him, and us, when he is. And it's noteworthy to see StefJo get off the schneid to seal the deal. January is history. But we might just make some more in February. We're bloody well due for an insane run of good form, we've got the horses to do it, and there's no reason to think it can't happen. Keep it rollin,' keep it rollin,' keep it rollin,' FULL STEAM!
Who's NEXT?

 

Official highlights from Forest (same highlights as above, but without the porn music - you can watch that one if you are into that sort of thing):


That goal from Johansen was the kind of thing we used to see from him regularly. Hang out in the opponent's half, take advantage poor ball handling, turn into a quick counter attack, and score! Glad to see him back to his old tricks.