Nottingham Forest have the opportunity to potentially push themselves into the automatic promotion places in the next few weeks.
It wasn’t the best weekend for Sabri Lamouchi’s side last time out.
A 2-1 defeat against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s has done Forest’s chances of securing automatic promotion no favours.
But if Forest are serious about automatic promotion, it’s the five-game run in front of them which could make or break their season.
To begin with, the Reds face a huge clash against Leeds United at the City Ground on Saturday.
The Whites have hit a poor run of form which has seen them lose three out of their last four games in the Championship. Their latest defeat came against Wigan Athletic at Elland Road.
Opportunity
With Samba Sow set to potentially be back involved, the Reds will fancy their chances of getting back to winning ways.
Forest don’t have to wait long until they return to the City Ground, as they face Charlton Athletic three days later on January 11th.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see another large crowd for that game. They’ll be hoping that the Reds are heading into it with the opportunity to secure back-to-back home wins.
The Reds then face arguably one of the most difficult away fixtures of the season. They travel to the Hawthorns to take on league leaders West Bromwich Albion.
The Baggies got the better of Sabri Lamouchi’s side on the opening day of the season at the City Ground.
However, the Reds have picked up more points away from home this season and will head into that game in confident mood.
If Forest want to catch West Brom, then it’s likely they’ll need to win this game.
After that, the Reds return to the City Ground to face Queens Park Rangers. If the Reds can replicate their performance in the reverse fixture at Loftus Road, then they should have enough to secure the three points.
Finally, Forest hit the road again to face Cardiff City at the Cardiff City Stadium. Traditionally, this has been a fixture that the Reds have struggled in.
They’ll be hoping to still be firmly in the promotion mix by the end of this month.
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