Silva excited by healthy competition between Jimenez and Muniz

Fulham head coach Marco Silva is excited about the competition developing between forwards Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz.

Muniz came into the side and scored a match-winning brace in their 2-1 victory over Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup fourth round, having previously come off the bench to score the winner against Newcastle last time out in the league.

While Muniz’s FA Cup appearance was his first start since the previous round, Silva is keen to suggest that the battle for a place in the XI is healthy for the team.

“It’s great competition between him and Raul, definitely,” he said. “It’s always good when you have two strikers that have been scoring goals, and important goals for us.

“The best example is what happened last Premier League game against Newcastle, when both scored.

“When you have a chance to start a game like Rodrigo, you have to step in and he did it. This is what you want.

“I know that I made 10 changes. Sometimes it’s not easy to keep the same consistency in terms of the way of play, but most of the time of the game we did it.

“Rodrigo did something that is really strong. Inside the box is really strong. I’m really pleased about the second goal, because it’s something that we have been working with him, with these types of runs and moves.

“That is something that is clear to improve, to understand sometimes that we cannot always play with our back to goal.

“Great response for him. Not surprised, as he’s in a good moment, like Raul. Great competition, just for me, for me to decide who is going to be the best solution for each game related to the strategy, the moment, the opposition side too.”

Nottingham Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, meanwhile, has defended his squad rotation during the FA Cup after their penalty victory over Exeter City.

Nuno made 10 changes to the side that thrashed Brighton 7-0 in their last Premier League match, with midfielder Danilo the only player to retain his place in the starting line-up.

Forest players have averaged more minutes (1,032.2) than at any other club in the Premier League as they keep up their fight for a Champions League place.

“This was our idea, to try to create a platform for our players to have game time and help us move forward for the rest of the season,” he said.

“If everyone has minutes in their legs, it will make things easier for us [in the Premier League], I hope. As long as we are healthy and have enough numbers, I think we can compete in both competitions really well.

“There are no starting players or substitutes, it is a squad that we will use to face all the competitions that are ahead of us.

“It is not about resting players, it is about rewarding the players who are working so hard. Many of them are coming into games and having so much impact, so why not change things around?”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Fulham – Raul Jimenez

Jimenez has scored three goals in his last two Premier League games against Nottingham Forest, while he is also one away from reaching double figures in the league for the first time since 2019-20.

The Mexican has also scored four goals in his last six league games, including Fulham’s first in 2-1 their comeback win over Newcastle United last time out.

Nottingham Forest – Chris Wood

Since the start of last season, only Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson of Chelsea (12) have combined for more Premier League goals than Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga (11), with Elanga’s 10 assists for Wood the most for a specific player in that time.

Wood is equal-third in the Premier League top goalscorer standings with 17, two back on Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and five further adrift of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.

MATCH PREDICTION: FULHAM WIN

Fulham have won four of their five Premier League games against Forest (L1), including both meetings at Craven Cottage by an aggregate score of 7-0.

They also come into this in good recent form, having won two of their last three Premier League games (L1), as many as in their previous 10 games in the competition (D6 L2), and could win successive league matches for the first time since November.

Fulham have also lost just two of their last eight Premier League games in which they’ve conceded the opening goal (W3 D3), with their three wins in 2024-25 only bettered in 2002-03 (four).

Forest, however, have won eight of their last 10 games in the Premier League (D1 L1), with five of their 10 clean sheets in the league this season coming in their last eight matches.

Victory for Nuno’s side will see them reach 50 points in a top-flight season for the first time since 1995-96, while doing so by their 25th game would be the second-fastest they’ve ever done so in a top-flight campaign after 1977-78 (23rd game when converting to three points/win).

But they have lost nine of their last 12 league games against Fulham, winning the other three. Two of those three victories came in away matches (2-1 in August 2019 and 1-0 in April 2022, both in the Championship).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Fulham – 44%

Draw – 26.8%

Nottingham Forest – 29.2%