Nottingham Forest have the chance to move top of the Championship table on Friday evening.
Let’s just drink that in for a moment.
Top of the league!
Beat struggling Stoke and the Reds will find themselves at the second tier summit.
Many will have feared that such a day would never come.
And for good reason!
Forest have hardly threatened to scale such heights in recent times, with a bright start to Stuart Pearce’s ultimately ill-fated reign about as good as things have got.
A standing in the No.1 spot is, however, there to be shot at.
And that is in spite there still being flaws to iron out in the much-feted Sabri-ball system.
The new Reds boss has made a positive early impression on Trentside.
Suffering only two defeats across all competitions will do that for you.
Spark
He is, however, still seeking a spark in the final third of the field and has been grinding out wins at times, rather than easing to them.
Forest legend Garry Birtles has said in the Nottingham Post: “Forget the 5-0 scoreline against Arsenal for a moment, there’s a greater concern I have about Nottingham Forest and their potential for progress this season.
“In the previous two games, 180 minutes of football, they’ve managed just two shots on target, in fact, they’ve had less than five in each league outing since the 3-0 win over Birmingham.
“In the draw with Preston on Trentside recently, there was just two.”
He added: “If you’re creating one chance, scoring it and then winning the game, then that’s not a bad place to be.
“Risky is one thing it is and something I’m sure Lamouchi is working tirelessly to correct with his players on the training pitch, after all, the season remains in its infancy.”
Birtles is right to point out an area of concern, and then immediately counter his claims.
Nobody at the City Ground is going to complain about picking up victories, regardless of how they come about.
If one chance is all that is required, then so be it.
Forest are, however, going to have to find more of a cutting edge if a promotion push is to be sustained.
Average
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As things stand, they sit bottom of the table when it comes to shots on target.
Across eight outings in 2019-20, the Reds have mustered just 21 – at an average of 2.6 per game.
Leeds, at the opposite end of that chart, have troubled opposition goalkeepers on 43 occasions (5.4 per game), while Fulham have fired in 39 efforts on target, Sheffield Wednesday 38 and West Brom 36.
Forest are two adrift at the foot, so could conceivably beat Stoke by the odd goal and sit top and bottom of different standings at the same time.
That would be quite an achievement.
It is, of course, important to note that the Reds are making more of the chances that come their way than a number of rivals.
They are middle of the road when it comes to total shots (66) and joint-sixth (alongside West Brom) when it comes to conversion rate (16.67).
Forest find the target on average once every 65.45 minutes, so are always giving themselves a chance.
Especially when you take into account that only Leeds, Blackburn and Swansea (all four) can claim to have bettered the Reds’ haul of three clean sheets.
Lamouchi has addressed issues at one end of the field, which is most welcome.
If similar success can be achieved at the other, then Forest really will be onto a winner and ready to stake a more serious claim for cementing a standing towards the very top of the division.
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