Marco Silva has challenged his Fulham side to register their first Premier League away win of the season at unbeaten Nottingham Forest this weekend.
The Portuguese head coach wants the Whites to build on an impressive victory over Newcastle United last weekend by stringing together consistent results. He told his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon:
“We really are looking forward for our first win away from home, we are going to work really hard to do it. They want the same at home as well, and let’s see. Let’s hope we can be stronger than them, and we are going to really look for the three points.”
Silva acknowledged that Forest would be weaker without the suspended Morgan Gibbs-White, but knows that Nuno Espirito Santo has plenty of attacking options to threaten the Whites.
“It’s not my problem – it’s more for Nuno. But I have to be honest, when you have Gibbs-White or you don’t have Gibbs-White, you are different. For sure, Nuno prefers to play with Gibbs-White. And if you ask me, I prefer to play without Gibbs-White! Simple. They are a very good side. You are talking about Gibbs-White, but he’s going to play another player in that position who is really good, too.
Let’s see who is going to be the player there. If he’s going to play Anderson, that is a very, very good player as well. A young player, but a very good one. Of course, when they have that quality out wide, with Hudson-Odoi, with Elanga, with Sosa as well, all those players, with a striker [Chris Wood] in a very good moment as well, they are always a threat and capable of punishing any side.
They’re really strong in counter-attack moments – when you feel that you have the control of the game, they can punish you as well, and it’s going to be a tough game. I think the way they started the season speaks about themselves.”
