Nottingham Forest don’t have too much longer to prepare for the first East Midlands Derby of the new season.
Forest host Derby at the City Ground on Friday night as both teams look to pull away from the bottom of the Championship table.
The Reds endured a poor start to the season losing all four of their opening league games while scoring just one goal, that form coupled with missing out on the playoffs in heartbreaking fashion at the end of the 2019/20 season led to the dismissal of Sabri Lamouchi and subsequent appointment of Chris Hughton as his replacement.
In Hughton’s first two games in charge, Forest have picked up four points, winning against Blackburn before drawing 1-1 with Rotherham on Tuesday night.
Speaking ahead of the game, NottinghamshireLive’s Nottingham Forest correspondent Sarah Clapson said that the upturn in form has made a difference to the feeling around the club ahead of the derby.
“I think Forest will probably be a bit more positive than they might have been maybe even a few weeks ago, because of the results they’ve had,” she said.
“Obviously they’ve had a win now and a draw under Chris Hughton and it’s amazing what a difference that can make just getting some results under your belt and just lifting the mood a little bit and feeling a bit more positive.
“Nobody’s going to be overconfident, but feeling a bit more optimistic about it than perhaps a few weeks ago when they were on that losing run and you were thinking ‘where is the next result coming from?’
“Now they’ve got that under their belt and they’ve kind of established themselves a little bit under Hughton they can go into it feeling a little bit more upbeat I think.”
A win for Forest at the City Ground would ensure that they stay above their East Midland rivals in the Championship table.
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