Nottingham Forest vs Fulham
Two of Portugal’s finest Premier League managers will meet in a Club Friendly this weekend and, fittingly, it will be in their homeland. The Portuguese city of Faro is ready for Club Friendly 2025 highlights as Fulham and Nottingham Forest step up their preparations for next season.
The work of Marco Silva and Nuno Espirito Santo has mightily impressed this SBOTOP observer in recent years, and they are, once again, quietly going about their business this summer, not to mention trying frantically to keep hold of their top talents.
Talking Points
Fulham, the only top-flight side who have not made a signing yet this summer, have enjoyed their pre-season outings to date.
First, they put four past the Scottish Cup winners Aberdeen with Harry Wilson bagging a brace, then Emile Smith Rowe grabbed the only goal in a 1-0 triumph over West Brom on Tuesday.
Silva has refused to be drawn on rumours linking Reiss Nelson with a move back to Fulham this summer. The Arsenal winger spent last season on loan at the Cottagers, making 13 appearances in all competitions before suffering a hamstring injury in December that ruled him out for the rest of the campaign.
And while he is part of the Gunners’ pre-season squad, even impressing off the bench against AC Milan in midweek, don’t be surprised if he returns to West London now he is back to full fitness.
Forest’s on-field activity has not set the world alight either, and the team has played out two goalless friendly draws so far, against League Two side Chesterfield and French club Monaco respectively.
More importantly, they have managed to fend off Spurs’ advances for Morgan Gibbs-White, with the playmaker now in Portugal with his teammates and expected to be involved again this weekend after playing the first half of the stalemate with Monaco. This certainly provides a big boost in their Club Friendly 2025 odds.
Although Forest had a somewhat anti-climatic ending to last term, it should be remembered that Forest finished 17th the previous season, the place immediately above the drop zone.
Few, if any, could have envisaged what has followed in “Robin Hood” country. Certainly, no one expected them to be in the running for Europe. They tailed off towards the end and a failure to beat Everton, Brentford, and relegated Leicester at home meant they came up just short, but to still be in contention for a Champions League place going into the final day of last season spoke volumes. Ultimately, Santo took a team from 17th to seventh, within a point of qualifying for UEFA’s premier competition.
And what memories they had along the way. They inflicted the first defeat of Arne Slot’s Liverpool reign, more impressively doing it at Anfield. After that first win at Liverpool since 1969, a first win at Manchester United since 1994 and a first league victory over Manchester City in 28 years duly followed.
Everyone loves Nuno at Forest, where he has built something very special, making people forget about the chaos that came before him. One of his great skills is to get his players to work for one another and he gets the best out of the individual and collective.
Though they ran out of steam, the potent counterattack of Chris Wood, Anthony Elanga (now at Newcastle), Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Gibbs-White was one of the best in the league.
Faro football fans will be delighted to see such talent in action and for two of their country’s most respected managers in the dugout once again. A warm welcome awaits both men.
History
Fulham have won seven of their last eight meetings with Nottingham Forest.
It was a 5-0 thrashing of them 19 months ago, which prompted the sacking of Steve Cooper as Alex Iwobi and Raul Jimenez both netted twice, and Tom Cairney added the other.
Fulham enjoyed a league double over Forest last term, which badly damaged their, albeit unlikely, Champions League bid.
A Jimenez penalty was the only goal at the City Ground last September, and that was followed up in west London by a 2-1 home win when Smith Rowe and Callum Bassey were the goal-getters with Wood replying for Forest.
Until a few seasons ago, they had not met in the top division since a 2-2 draw at the City Ground in April 1968 in League Division One.
The scorers that day were Barry Lyons and Ian Storey-Moore for Forest and Les Barrett and Allan Clarke for Fulham.
Fulham have won 10 of their last 13 clashes. Overall, Fulham have beaten Forest 47 times compared to 33 successes for the Midlanders and 28 draws.
Their inaugural match-up came in a second-round FA Cup tie in 1905, which Fulham won by a solitary goal at Craven Cottage.
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