Image source, Getty ImagesNo side’s Premier League games have produced more goals than Chelsea’s so far this season (22), while Nottingham Forest’s matches have seen the fewest (11).
A new episode of BBC Radio Nottingham's Shut Up And Show More Football podcast is now available.
There is an exclusive chat with Forest forward Anthony Elanga about the season so far and beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last season.
And Matt Davies-Adams, a Reds fan who commentates for Chelsea TV, joins the team to help preview Sunday's meeting.
Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesNottingham Forest chairman Tom Cartledge has stepped down with immediate effect to focus on the running of his family businesses.
He will remain on the board and will be replaced by Nicholas Randall, who is reappointed as chairman having been in the position for six years after Evangelos Marinakis bought the club in 2017.
Cartledge said: “I have had an incredible experience over the last 15 months, working for the club I love and have supported all my life.
“Over the last year and a half we have taken significant steps in securing the club’s future at an expanded City Ground and I will now continue to advise the owners on the real estate strategy whilst spending more time working in my family business."
Randall added: “I would like to extend my thanks to Tom for his hard work and dedication over the past year and a half.
"During that time, it has been a privilege to have remained closely involved with the club as a member of the board, and I am delighted to resume the role of chairman today.
“I would like to thank Evangelos Marinakis and my fellow Board members for entrusting me with the position once again, and I look forward to the next exciting chapter in our history.”
Pat Riddell
Fan writer
Image source, Getty ImagesFor all Nottingham Forest’s progress this season — results, transfers, stability — it seems there is still an element of growing pains at play.
While Morgan Gibbs-White’s controversial dismissal against Brighton & Hove Albion robbed us of his presence against Fulham, it was feasible to put out a similar formation without too much tinkering in style or play.
Elliot Anderson has performed particularly well in midfield since his arrival from Newcastle, and can easily slot into the number 10 position. But with an unbeaten run of five games, and plenty of confidence in his selection, Nuno Espírito Santo opted for a 4-4-2 line-up.
Obviously it didn’t pay off. A rather disjointed, flat display was a disappointing way to end the run in front of the City Ground’s largest crowd in a decade. Similarly, while refereeing decisions made the headlines it is hard to argue they stopped us scoring. And while we were bound to underperform and/or lose at some point, it does prompt a few questions.
Should we be confident enough to play the same way every game? Should we be more threatening and attacking at home? And how pay much attention should we pay to the opposition?
Well, from a low-block and playing-on-the-break in a relegation-surviving season to the aim of greater possession and a more expansive gameplan in a (hopefully) Premier League established period… where does the balance lie?
Evidently, somewhere in between. Nuno masterminded the Reds’ first victory at Anfield in a generation (or two) and he’s got enough credit in the bank to be trying things. And clearly, at this early stage of the season, there are still new players and new ideas that are yet to quite settle in.
Chelsea away this Sunday might not be the time to be asking such questions, but it feels like there is still some trial and error this year as Forest continue to find their feet.
Find more from Pat Riddell at The Famous Club, external
Image source, Getty ImagesWe asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Nottingham Forest and Fulham.
Here are some of your comments:
Forest fans
Andrew: Forest certainly missed Gibbs-White today. Fulham deserved the three points. Forest huffed and puffed but Fulham were the better side on the day.
Luke: That’s probably our worst home performance under Nuno. Say what you want about the penalty appeals but we played so badly there’s no guarantee we’d have scored if we got one. Team selection baffles me slightly, I never like ending the 90 minutes with better players on the pitch than at the start.
Peter: Started with bad team selection. Sorry Wood and Awoniyi cannot play together with out the full on-wing support from Elanga and Hudson-Odoi. Then bringing on Elanga on his own was more of a mystery. The team were just totally disjointed and this was evident by their passing - it seemed like they did not really know where to go or who to pass it to.
Gary: If any Forest fan thinks that the jury is still out regarding how talented and how important Morgan Gibbs-White is to the club then today's stuttering performance should be evidence compelling enough to influence that jury, that we can't do without him.
Fulham fans
Mario: I feel that we seem to have one really great half and one really average half as Marco has eluded to. The players need to show the same level over the whole 90 minutes. However, despite the minor negative it’s still a fantastic win and one that is well deserved. Long may it continue.
Simon: It wasn’t necessarily pretty but a first clean sheet of the season and an away victory at a in form team is a good sign of progress. And I’m so glad we’ve got Marco Silva and not Nuno, because I couldn’t watch that type of football every week, even if it does keep Forest up.
Will: A very good win against a previously unbeaten side. Raul is continuing his fine form and this is our best start to a season in many a year, if we had not conceded those two late goals in earlier games, we would be first.
Luke: Glad we managed to hang on in the end. Few nervy moments but a good defensive performance. A game of few chances and could have gone either way. Great result for Fulham.
Highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.
If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.
Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:
Image source, Getty ImagesNottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo felt the challenge by Forest defender Murillo on Andreas Pereira which led to a Fulham penalty was "not intentional" but did not want to get drawn further on the subject. He told BBC Match Of The Day: "We will try to avoid speaking about them. The referees need some peace with their work. But I look at the images, and there are incidents in Fulham's box also which were not reviewed. We cannot do anything and hope the referees do their job and improve and allow the players to play football.
"It's frustrating and disappointing looking back at the game. The first half was not so good. The game was balanced. Unfortunately we conceded in the second half and it became hard. We lost a bit of control that we wanted. The players worked hard to achieve something but it was not today and we move forward."
Timothy Abraham
BBC Sport Journalist
Image source, Getty ImagesAndreas Pereira goes down after contact from Forest defender Murillo
Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo would not be really be drawn on the key moment which settled this defeat to Forest.
"There's no intention at all, but most penalties are not intentional," was the most the Nuno would say on the incident.
From a Forest perspective, it seemed a harsh call from referee Josh Smith to award a penalty on the basis that Murillo had scraped his studs along the back of Andreas Pereira’s calf.
Pereira certainly made the most of any contact from Murillo, rather theatrically throwing himself to the turf.
What was more frustrating was the fact Forest did not get a look in when their players went to ground in the opposition box.
There were incidents involving Anthony Elanga and Taiwo Awoniyi, but unlike the Pereira penalty the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) did not encourage referee Smith to take another look.
Forest fans will rightly wonder why, if he was not sure on the Pereira incident, he was so unequivocal on those two.
Image source, Getty ImagesNottingham Forest have failed to win any of their last six league games at the City Ground (D3 L3). Their longest run since September 2021 in the Championship (8 games – D2 L6).
Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?
Have your say on Forest’s performance, external
What did you make of Fulham’s display?, external
Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies
Seven matches make up Saturday's Premier League action, and we will bring you every moment.
All kick-off times BST
Follow all of the action and reaction here
BBC Radio 5 Live commentaries:
Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.
For week six, he takes on Maximo Park singer Paul Smith, whose latest album, Stream Of Life, is out on Friday.
Forest host Fulham at 15:00 on Saturday.
Sutton's prediction: 1-1
I like Fulham at home, but I am not so sure I like them as much away.
Nottingham Forest will miss the suspended Morgan Gibbs-White, which is a bit of a blow for them.
This is going to be a good game, but it has draw written all over it.
Smith's prediction: 0-1
Both of these teams are in the top half and have made decent starts so, like Everton versus Palace, this feels like a fair fight between two fairly equal teams.
As a Boro fan I loved it when Adama Traore was with us - he did have an end product, but it has become something that became a bit of a stick to beat him with.
This season he has definitely upped his conversion rate so I am thinking that Fulham might nick it. Forest have a lot of talent in midfield, but Gibbs-White being suspended might be the deciding factor.
Image source, Getty ImagesEarlier, we asked you for the two players who have scored more than 20 Premier League goals for Nottingham Forest.
Bryan Roy and Stan Collymore, who formed a superb strike partnership for Forest in the mid-1990s, scored 24 and 22 Premier League goals for the club respectively.
Legendary left-back Stuart Pearce is not far behind on 18.
In the latest episode of Shut Up And Show More Football, David Jackson and Colin Fray discussed the "chaos" that ensued during Nottingham Forest's 2-2 draw away at Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend.
There were three red cards shown in the second-half with Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White receiving his marching orders along with both managers in what Jackson described as a "mad" ending to the fixture.
Discussing Gibbs-White's red card, he said: "The problem with it was the referee and the fourth official both immediately indicating that he'd played the ball but then giving a decision to say yellow card and off. That confusion and those mixed messages cause chaos."
Disagreement between both benches followed Gibbs-White's sending off with Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler and Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo then seeing red.
Fray added: "My issue with Anthony Taylor as fourth official getting involved in this is, what if it's on the other side of the pitch and he can't see it? Then he doesn't get involved and the referee's on-field call, which is clearly played the ball, stands.
"Morgan Gibbs-White then stays on the pitch and he isn't suspended. Fabian Hurzeler may get angry but Nuno doesn't get angry and he doesn't get a red card, he isn't on a charge and Gibbs-White isn't on a charge and play goes on.
"My point is, if the only way a fourth official can intervene is when it happens right in front of him, is that the right way to go forward?"
Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
Can you name the two players who have scored more than 20 goals in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest?
Answer will be revealed at 17:00 BST
Image source, Getty ImagesThere has been a lot of conversation this week about "dark arts" in football following the draw between Manchester City and Arsenal on Sunday.
Realistically, everyone who has watched football for longer than one game has seen things they would perceive as "dark arts"; whether it is a player always going down winning free-kicks to take the sting out of the game, kicking the ball into row Z when there was no multi-ball system or time-wasting on goal-kicks.
These are things we see all the time but our perception of it is dependent on the context of a game. You always see some version of it somewhere, and you hope your team would be doing the same thing if in the same situation - because why should you do something that would benefit the opposition you are against?
It is the same as going down a bit more easily to win penalties - some people will say "this guy is a cheat", but then on the other side of their mouth, if it is something that could benefit them, they say "he has tried too hard to stay up, he needed to go down there".
You can have rulings, Ifab can get involved to change this and that, but there will always be a way to push the rules to their limits.
What we saw with Arsenal in that game, where David Raya sat down to get some treatment while the teams gathered, we have seen those moments before. It is not just new to Arsenal - other teams do it.
It is always based on certain moments. You do get more frustrated if it happens against you, but when you need to do it, you encourage people to do it. That is one of the beauties of football - the way you see things is always going to be down to perception, context and just whether you think it is benefiting you or not.
Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Phil Cartwright
