Former Nottingham Forest ace Michail Antonio has backed his old club to cap a stunning rise under Steve Cooper by being a force in the play-offs.
The Reds head to Bramall Lane on Saturday for their semi-final first leg against Sheffield United, with the return tie at the City Ground next Tuesday night. If they can come through that, a Wembley date with either Huddersfield Town or Luton Town awaits for the final.
Under Cooper, Forest have gone from propping up the Championship table when he arrived last September to a fourth-placed finish, having pushed Bournemouth all the way for the second automatic promotion spot. And Antonio, who spent a year on the banks of the Trent before joining West Ham United in 2015, hopes the club can end their more than two-decade exile from the top-flight.
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“You know who I would want to come up. Obviously Nottingham Forest, because it’s a club I’ve been at,” he told the BBC’s The Footballer’s Football Podcast. “I’m very fond of the club as well, because I enjoyed every moment of my time being there.
“To be fair, it’s a massive club, (former) European Champions. The Premier League is where they deserve to be.
“If you go off form at the end of the season… Nottingham Forest were in the bottom three when Cooper took over, and he’s now brought them from the bottom three into the play-offs, just missing out on automatic promotion.
“The majority of years in the Championship, the team that gets promoted is the team with the best form going into the play-offs. And that’s Nottingham Forest.
“Luton were doing well all season, in and out, in and out, always in and around it. But right now, Forest have got the run of form and the driving force. But Luton have got a bit of luck on their side, and luck is as big as performances.”
